Death Waits for No One
by BanishedOne
Summary: Sasuke is lost as to what path he should take when his world is plunged into the chaos of darkness and a disease that threatens to destroy his plans of revenge. He can hardly see himself surviving, and he comes to wonder if Itachi is still alive out there
1. Chapter 1

The apartment was gray- It always had been. Gray walls and gray wooden floors; one square room, with a door leading to a washroom. The large rectangular rug before the bed had once been beige, but its color had faded to light gray over the years. There was an oversized chair on the wall opposite from the bed- Dull white. In one corner of the room sat a dark wood desk with a television and a radio, and a simple wooden chair tucked beneath. There was a night stand next to the bed with a small lamp, whose body was made of clay stained a gray color, and the lampshade was yet another dull white.

Lastly, pulled over the one window was a heavy black curtain to block out the dismal light from outside. The young Uchiha was struggling to stay warm; the village's power had been out for a week now, right in the middle of a world-altering change of climate, and disaster epidemic. The teenage boy knew better than to shuffle the curtain too much, lest he gain the attention of -them-, but he was curious to know if morning had finally set in, stilling the creatures for the day.

Uchiha Sasuke set his bare feet on the wood floor, warily stalking from his densely blanketed mattress over to the window- He could feel his hands shaking, and he tip-toed as if one of -them- were right outside his front door, waiting to hear the smallest sign of life existing behind the boarded threshold. His breath was slow and slight puffs of steam came out as it was released. The preteen could hear his shaking in the sound of his breath, it was utterly disgusting. He bitterly bit back the weakness that gripped him, the fear drawing out the fact that he hadn't changed one bit since _that night;_ He wanted to know if Hell had disappeared for a short time with the coming of the sun.

His small, lithe body laid ever so smoothly against the frame around his covered window, and for the most part, he let one eye glance through the tiny crack at the hem of the thick curtain. He drew breath slowly in and out, biting his lip to keep it from quivering as he looked first toward the mountainous horizon. Nothing in the distance but clouds of dull, whitish-gray, already spilling more frigid fluff like pure-white innards all over the streets and buildings. However, those same gray clouds had the tiniest silver lining- The sun had sleepily arisen, and was at work sending -them- into hiding. If only the clouds would move aside, then maybe there would be hope of finally scorching those things into oblivion, but the young Uchiha knew that was not going to happen anytime soon.

Hesitantly, the teen let his eyes drift down to the city streets, and a shudder shot through his frame at yet another visual confirmation of -their- existence. He found himself ducking a bit away from the window, hoping it hadn't seen him. He kept his eye on it, though, knowing it was seeking shelter for the day, and that it wouldn't be a threat for at least a few hours.

It shuffled so mindlessly, like a rabid dog out of its own burning mind. It would alternate between shambling on two legs, or dropping down on its hands like an awkward monkey, glaring with eyes that seemed to glow white beneath a wet mass of dirtied hair. His mouth was agape, panting after a tiresome night's hunt, his face distant, his mind absent, his only drive now the urge to find a dark crevice to hide in, and slumber in the grip of snow and ice, preserving his body until he would rise again with the coming of night.

"Kami..." A soft, whispered voice quietly rang in the still air of the gray room. Sasuke hated it, hearing his own voice come out like some secret word a little forest animal might utter. He indeed felt himself like a little rabbit, speaking in a tone that was silent to all but the frail deer nearby.

The trio had quickly adapted themselves to hearing nearly unspoken voices. It was almost like they had begun to read each other's lips, chattering with no noise involved, if only to hide their presence and live for another day and night. In this same method, Sasuke continued, thinking his two friends would not reply anyway.

"That one was still wearing his damn headband.. There's nothing left outside but madness now."

Still so akin to a forest animal, Sasuke found his way back to the warm retreat of his bed, taking cautious little steps, dodging every floorboard which could possibly creak and send an alarm out to the ones outside. He safely made it back to his bed however, glaring down at the mass of blankets and feeling just like a child. All three of them had realized this; They were children, hiding under the covers from the boogie man.

Once he settled himself back into his warm spot, he let Sakura shuffle under the blanket next to him. The young avenger found no will to sharply shoo the girl away with his cocky tone and his uncaring stares; No, it seemed Sakura and he were kindred spirits now, and because of that, he took some pity on her. She huddled so close, it seemed she wanted to hide under the Uchiha boy, her frame quivering the same as it had been for almost three days now. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was the cold or the utterly disturbing images that probably kept playing in her head.

But the girl's body felt warm, and she spoke very little. She moved very little for that matter, locked up in a harsh, mind-breaking reality. She didn't have the ability to annoy Sasuke anymore, and some twisted part of the avenger was grateful, and as well, he couldn't help but be glad his friends had been forced to see everything that had happened over the past few days. He kept this unspoken, because he could not wish bad things on them without wishing bad things on himself.

And he knew he couldn't survive alone this time.

Dark eyes glanced over as he bent his head down a bit, trying to get a good look at Sakura's face as she sat next to him. She was still just looking straight ahead, no expression, eyes a pale, watery aquamarine. She had been like this ever since she showed up at Sasuke's apartment, trembling and out of her mind in hysterics. She had, at least, been able to speak then, and it was that day that she told Sasuke what had happened.

They had just come back from a mission, the day already more than half gone, and Sakura went straight home just to find that her house was dark, and things laid scattered here and there. She explained to Sasuke in tattered syllables that when she ventured further into the chilling environment of her normally welcoming home, she stumbled upon the torn apart body of her father only a few feet away from what looked like a man hunched over her mother, claws delving into the main cavity of the still-gasping woman, and a mouth descending to tear out a feast of entrails.

Sakura said that she was able to see her mother whisper her name before the woman's eyes rolled back in her head, and her last breath came out in a gurgle of blood. The girl shakily pulled out a kunai as she tried to quietly slip away without being noticed by _whoever _this man was who was _eating _her parents, but she stumbled just the slightest bit, causing the floor to creak and a terrified hiccup escaped from behind her lips. Then she saw it- Those glowing, demented white eyes as the creature snapped its head up to look at her, his face covered in blood. The creature quickly bolted after the girl, and she told Sasuke that she ran as fast as she could away from her home, and that was when she ended up at Sasuke's house before she even realized how far she had run in the first place.

Dusk had come much too quickly that day. By the time Sasuke had settled Sakura down somewhat, Naruto came frantically knocking on Sasuke's door in a panic just as much as Sakura. All Hell had broken loose.

And now, things only continued to go downhill; Being able to survive while hunting for food like a scavenger, living in a barricade, and looking over one's shoulder every other second of the day, it all made life suddenly into something too terrifying and unworthy to even continue. The three adolescents had gone from children to adults over a course of three days, but just the same they had gone from humans to rats, lurking in a hole just to survive. And to top it off, not only was Sakura in need of some sort of treatment for her trauma, Naruto, the once lively knuckle-headed ninja, was also in need of treatment of a different kind.

The young avenger slowly traced dark eyes across the mass of sheets and blankets to observe the blonde boy laid across the mattress; Naruto was the only one lying down, and probably the only one who had been able to sleep properly over the last few days, but it was because he was becoming more and more unwell as the days went by.

It was ghastly, really, to see Naruto, not just because of how his spirit had faded, but his skin had faded to match, and if Sasuke didn't know any better, he likely wouldn't even recognize his friend. Naruto's normally tanned appearance had withered to a sickly pale color that wasn't even a pure-white, but a dingy, translucent, pale peach with traces of purplish bruising and gray undertones. Even the young male's hair and eyes seemed to have lightened just as well; His once vibrant gold spikes looked to be a mere pale yellow now, and though his eyes had already been a slight shade darker than crystal, they now looked like glass with only the slightest blue tinge.

The avenger was sure other changes had taken place, but as a whole the evolution was so abnormal that he could hardly wrap his mind around what else had become of Naruto. And the young blonde's appearance was not the only thing the Uchiha was finding to concentrate on, either.

Naruto was sapped of strength, hardly able to sit himself upright at this point. He put most of his efforts into finding a way to stifle his on and off coughing spells, lest those creatures come to find he and his friends, and that would be a calamity. He spoke now and again of various pains from his throat to his head, back and his chest- The blonde boy seemed to be hurting all over, yet he either paid it little mind or he was too weak to do anything about it.

That faded skin was cold to the touch, and even became clammy during the night, or whenever Naruto tried to sleep. His frame was constantly wracked in shivers and even though Sasuke and Sakura both covered him in blankets, and tried to offer warmth from their own bodies, he never mentioned feeling any less cold than if he had been uncovered.

The young avenger found himself sighing as softly as he possibly could as his dark eyes watched his blonde friend. It was this very sound, however, that seemed to bring Naruto to the waking world. Those pale blue eyes slowly opened, gazing without much concentration for a moment, which Sasuke would never admit, chilled him to the bone and he shivered in his powdery skin. His fingers tightened nervously, and he felt his heart beat faster, terrified that his friend could have awakened, no longer Naruto.. But perhaps one of _them_.

Sasuke knew what was happening. He just refused to admit it. (He knew the night Naruto scurried through his door, his hand a bloody mess after having been bitten by one of those creatures. Sasuke knew.)

Truly, the young Uchiha was terrified, but thankfully, Naruto was still himself. Sasuke was aware the instant his friend's eyes flickered up to stare into his and a coy, sarcastic smile played across the blonde's dry, cracked lips. The little failure was still calling Sasuke a coward in silence, probably feeling so damn justified as he bravely faced what hastily came to claim his life, or at least.. His self-awareness. The avenger simply gave a glare in return, which caused the sickly blonde to chuckle quietly.

But humor was a luxury that the trio could not afford for more than a few seconds- Naruto made that clear. His little laugh died off, and he shifted slightly, trying to lift himself from the mattress so he could speak with his two friends. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke objected- They just watched and listened.

Once Naruto was upright, he coughed lightly for a moment, fighting to restrain it so that he could speak, his voice as raspy as ever but more grim than it had ever been. "..Sasuke.. We're out of time.. You and Sakura can't stay here any longer.."

In a shushed but sarcastic voice, the young avenger found a retort so quickly, it was completely obvious that this subject had already been on his mind. "Good observation, but it isn't like there is anywhere any of us can go."

"Well you have..to try." Naruto's voice was so strangely soft, it was almost shocking to hear; It wasn't clear whether it was because of the danger or because he had grown so weak. He still found the will to continue, as his point was an important one. "There might be some place that's safe beyond Konoha. Think of all the places we've been to during our missions. They can't all be destroyed right?"

Sasuke glanced toward the window, the look in his eyes darker than usual- He felt hopeless. He hated feeling hopeless. He hated being helpless. "It's a possibility."

The young Uchiha's negativity, the way he sat so foolishly wasting time, it bothered the typically optimistic male. Even on his own deathbed, he sought a plan for safety concerning his friends, and all Sasuke seemed to want was to wait for death. "Well, I know it isn't safe here, and it is about to get even worse."

The sickly boy's words drew a curious look from the avenger, while the girl at Sasuke's side moved her hands over her ears, obviously unsettled by the bickering between her teammates. Sasuke placed his hand gently against his female teammates back to calm her as he continued his conversation. "What do you mean?"

"Tch," was Naruto's only initial response, not feeling very confident with explaining things, while Sasuke usually liked to pretend to be the biggest genius around. Why was it that the dark-headed boy didn't understand now? What was it he didn't understand? "Don't act like you don't know.. Just look at me, Sasuke. You know what is happening."

A silence fell between the three preteens, Sasuke first glancing to the side to see if Sakura was listening or not- He was glad she wasn't. Then, after a moment of thought, the avenger just nodded, acknowledging what his friend was telling him.

"I've.. I've heard his voice in my mind, whispering taunts and laughing.." One of the sickly male's hands was placed against the mattress and he leaned over, his body feeling heavy as he tried to continue. He was weak, and his words were difficult, but he pressed on, staying true to his most undying trait. "He knows what is going to happen.. He told me."

At first Sasuke felt a bit confused, though he had some ideas in mind; It was just strange hearing Naruto speak in such a way. He spoke up in question, just to be sure of what his friend was speaking of. "Who?"

Naruto breathed a sigh before he clenched the sheets between his fingers, his voice an even softer, fretting whisper. "...The Kyuubi."

Yes, for the avenger, hearing Naruto actually speak of that thing was strange- For the longest time, the Kyuubi was something that didn't seem to really exist. The only thing that existed was a strange power that Naruto unleashed now and then, but other than that.. Nothing. But to hear the blonde speak of the Kyuubi as a whole other existence within him, like another person, an evil person.. It was incomprehensible and eerie.

Still, Sasuke accepted his friend's words. There was little that could be called unbelievable, at least, nowadays. "...What has he told you?"

The blonde was visibly comforted, at least slightly, that his teammate seemed to believe him, and with that little luxury, he continued his words more at ease. "When this.. I guess it's a sickness.. When it takes over my mind, the seal won't hold any longer, and the fox will break free... When that happens, if you or Sakura are anywhere close, he'll kill you.. That's why you have to leave. You have to hurry, pack what you can, and leave.. By the end of today, I'm done for.. He told me so."

The blonde boy hung his head, a few stray spikes falling over his forehead and forward to hide his eyes from view as his frame shook. This was the most emotion he had shown over the past few days, but it was obviously an overflow of everything he was too weak to express. He wanted to protect his friends. He wanted them to be safe, and.. He didn't really want to die, but he couldn't do anything to save himself or anybody else. It was the greatest defeat; He always thought that if he had to die young, he would at least do it protecting somebody he cared about, but.. That wasn't the case. "You have to take Sakura.. Protect her. And keep yourself safe to.. But you both have to get out of here..."

He took a deep breath, steadily so not to cause a fit of coughing, and he wiped at the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks, trying to remain calm despite his obvious anguish and complete frustration. "You know that they hide during the day. You'll have until night time to find shelter.. You can do that, can't you, Sasuke?"

Sakura uncovered her ears as she noticed the blonde's tears, and she stared at him for a moment, as if waiting to hear some sort of answer. When she didn't get one, she turned watery aquamarine pools to the boy at her side, looking confused and afraid.

Sasuke paid the girl no mind yet, dark eyes studying his friend sternly, his gut aching at just the notion of being banished from the one place he had found safety. Some part of him wanted to tell Naruto to fuck off, and go die in the woods, but he couldn't even force himself to be so cold. Sure, the blonde was a fool, a dying fool, but another part of the avenger cared, and hated that Naruto had to meet his end in such a pathetic way- He honestly felt sympathy. And he felt sympathy just considering that his own end would probably come in just as much an ungraceful, dishonorable fashion.

He would probably die somewhere, failing at hiding like a coward, being torn apart by the diseased creatures outside. He would never see the day he got his vengeance, but, then again.. He wondered if Itachi was even still alive after all this.

He shook such thoughts from his mind, focusing on what was at hand, and with a look mixed between irritation and woe, he finally spoke up. "..I suppose I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Naruto didn't even look up. He just smirked bitterly to himself, knowing how his friend and rival had to be looking and thinking of him. "That's right..teme."

::

_/If I was yours.. As certain as the moon, we'll have each other until the sun./_

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Just along the border of the Fire Country stalked a cloaked, masked pair. They had journeyed a far distance, and were certainly exhausted from their trip but they walked with confident grace, even into a town ravaged by disease; The very same disease that had become a world-wide epidemic in the span of perhaps a week.

This particular pair had reason for confidence, but it was a secret contained between the two of them, having survived due to personal talents which just happened to be coincidence. They shared these talents with very few, not needing survivors clinging to their heels as if they were Gods- They played no games of mercy. They pitied none but themselves and they didn't waste their time with others.

For now they sought shelter for the night, dusk having fallen more quickly than what was convenient, but it was a fault that fell on their shoulders- They estimated wrongly, having assumed they could make it to this town faster than what they had. Neither mentioned it, however, and neither blamed the other- It was of little importance.

The diseased may have crept out from their crevices and began their nightly feeding ritual, but this pair certainly was not on the menu. One simple glance had the entire hoard standing down and turning to be on their way, and for those that didn't move aside, they were shoved harshly by force.

The cloaked, masked pair wandered into town, checking everything out with what little light remained as an aid. They didn't hope for much, but merely a building that would provide shelter while they slept; This meant that it couldn't have any windows that were accessible to the diseased cannibals, and it had to lock up tightly. It was also preferable that there be some sort of food source available, as a convenience. (They had ration pills, but real food was always their preference.)

The two men had been about ready to settle for whatever they could get, but somewhere toward the center of the village they laid eyes on a steady pillar of smoke rising from a small spout of a chimney. They glanced at one another with a hint of curiosity apparent, even in their movements, and without a speck of hesitation, they both turned toward the building that seemed to be secure enough to house living humans. Not only were these humans alive, but they were cheeky enough to allow such an obvious sign to the creatures as smoke pour from their building. It must have been practically impenetrable.

Once the pair had trudged through the snowy street and made it to the door, the taller male gave a nice, sharp series of knocks. The creatures likely weren't even capable of a knock, so hopefully this let the ones inside know that living humans stood outside, for a change.

But, as one might have expected, these survivors weren't thrilled to know outsiders had showed up, and a voice from the other side of the door gruffly and bluntly stated, "Sorry, but we don't take in strangers."

The shorter male crossed his arms impatiently and his companion smirked beneath his mask, speaking up in response. "You'll let us in, or I'll be forced to take this door off the hinges. It won't be terribly difficult.. We're shinobi."

There was a pause, probably the survivors quietly discussing what they had heard, and the pair stood with some hint of patience as they awaited entry to the building. A few seconds later and they heard some shifting, and the sound of a strong, metallic latch turning to unbar the door. It was next opened a crack, and the pair slipped inside, moving into the shelter just enough to look around.

Both men investigated the survivors, giving each one a glance. There was a tall, burly man with blonde hair and dark skin- He was the one who stood at the door. Standing near him was an older man holding a young girl in his arms; He had an olive complexion, dark hair streaked with gray and, intelligent, ebony eyes. The girl he was holding appeared to be a relative.

Then, over in the corner, near the stove where the fire was burning was a pale, dark headed man wrapped in blankets, just resting. He looked weak, sickly, shivering over by the fire and coughing quietly into his hands.

The shorter male of the pair that had just arrived found himself staring at this man for an extended moment, and with no words said to anybody else present, he sauntered right over to the sickly-looking man. A thin hand reached out to grasp the blanket wrapped around this man, and he was dragged to his feet. He could only mumble questioningly, frightened at this sudden assault, trying to escape as he was marched to the door, and shoved out.

The pallid-looking, sick man turned on heel out in the snow, pleading for mercy from the man who tossed him out to be eaten alive, but the only mercy that was offered was one hand on the handle of a katana that had been strapped to the masked man's back, and with a fatal draw, he severed the pleading man's head, and shut the door.

This immediately caused a stir between the remaining survivors and their guests. The muscular blonde man made to lunge at the short masked man holding the katana, but the taller of the cloaked pair stepped between the two just before any more bloodshed became a necessity. While the two huge men glared one another down, the older man shielded the little girl more defensively in his arms, hiding her from the violence and potential danger.

No more conflict was allowed to break out, though, because the shorter, cloaked man spoke up calmly to explain his brutal actions. "Calm down, all of you.."

He walked slowly to the center of the softly lit room, finding a chair to rest in, which sat before a round café table. "I saved you all the trouble of having to deal with that man once he transformed. It was likely that the infection would have spread to the rest of you if he had been allowed to remain- That is, if he wasn't carrying the airborne strain. In that case, you likely are all infected anyway."

The tall, cloaked man chuckled with a sadistic tone in his voice as he turned away from his opposition, and stood down, joining his companion at the table. The other muscular man turned his attention to barricading the door back, while growling in his throat, still clearly miffed at having strangers walk in and act like they had the right to decide who lived and who died.

This was the point when the older man let the little girl slide from his grasp, and he approached the two strangers, a wary look on his weathered face. "You speak as if you know much about this..illness."

The larger of the two masked men piped up with a laugh, clearly amused at how his friend's knowledge piqued this old man's interest. "Yeah, you could say he knows _all_ about it!"

"Really?" The old man stood near to the masked pair as he spoke his interest. "I've tried to wrap my mind around it, myself, I'm a doctor you see.. I thought surely I could help by researching the virus, but the center where I worked was overrun and destroyed. All I've been able to do lately is make blind guesses... Can you share your thoughts with me? Are you a medical shinobi?"

The muscular, masked man at the table seemed very amused by this situation, more comfortable than any man should be amidst such a crisis. "Hear that? He thinks you're a medical shinobi!"

The smaller, more calm of the two cloaked shinobi seemed to hover in silence, thoughtfully, for an extended moment, before he addressed his laughing partner. "A doctor? If he is a doctor, you should take him with you, back to your village." He offered the slightest gesture, an inclination of his head momentarily toward the dark-headed, older man standing among them.

The doctor (Who was once professionally known as Dr. Hidaeki Masuda) politely listened, even after his questions were left unanswered and he was more or less ignored. However, he persisted in speaking with the masked men, longing for the information the pair harbored from the 'outside'. "There're still villages standing that haven't been destroyed by this plague?"

The slightest glimmer of hope became apparent in the older man's eyes, and he glanced quickly back at the burly man and little girl who had been in his company all this time before looking back to the conversing, masked men.

Still ignoring Masuda, the muscular man at the table shrugged with his uncanny lack of seriousness ever-intact, this time also writing off the words offered by his partner as well. "I'm sure they have as many medical shinobi as they could possibly need-"

"No." The shorter of the masked men spoke up quickly, his voice lowered slightly, his tone demanding and fierce while maintaining a somehow polite and neutral disposition. "In this situation, every mind that can contribute counts."

His companion paused- Inwardly, he was thinking it strange that the other male should extend a merciful hand to others. It wasn't a common occurrence, after all. But, he simply sighed like a defeated child being given an order while making his complaints known. "Do you have any idea how much of a pain that would be? You're going on your own from this point, and you want me to take random survivors back to my village?"

The doctor, attempting to break into the conversation, spoke up again at this point. "Where is your village?"

The doctor's question had been directed at the large, masked man, and so the smaller of the two found no reason to answer, though he was certain his partner was disinterested as well; Besides, they were having a conversation with no need for interruption. "I think you can handle it. Guarding one man can't be that hard, right?"

These words, however, were cause for Masuda to exclaim. "Wait!" He slapped his hand down on the table, not with an angered sort of force, but more in the way of finally grabbing the attention of the two masked men. "I can't just leave my daughter here! ..And then what about Kano?"

With his other hand, the doctor, Masuda, gestured to the other burly man present, as to explain who 'Kano' was.

Another sigh erupted from the larger masked man, and he gestured toward the other survivors with his hand as well. "See, he wants me to take his entire merry band with me!"

This is when the burly, blonde man called 'Kano' took a few steps nearer to the group at the table, throwing his own opinion out for consideration. "If you're leaving to go to a village that is still standing, then I'd wish to come along, if only to help you fight to protect Masuda-san and his daughter. If I fall, then that is how it is. You don't have to protect me."

"There." The smaller, masked man at the table spoke as if his word was final, even as his words merely gave the facade of polishing the situation. " You'd only have to protect the two, with the help of one other. It will take you a couple of days to make it back to your village, so you'll have time to know if they are infected or not. If they are.. Just kill them."

Collectively, the old doctor shuddered while Kano narrowed his eyes, and the little girl hid herself behind the burly blonde.

The muscular, masked man threw his hands up slightly, though he smirked beneath his mask. (And the malice of it was apparent in his tone.) "Fine. I'll do it."

"One more thing.." The small, and presumably young masked man paused while rummaging beneath his tattered, deep ruby cloak. Gloved hands found their way to a small packet strapped to him somewhere beneath all the concealing fabric- It was from there that he pulled a vial containing a murky fluid, and he brought it into visual in order to pass it carefully to his partner.

The larger man's attention hadn't grasped it yet, and he busily growled demands at Masuda (being the closest person). "Do you people have any food or tea or anything? I'm gonna be saving your asses and you don't even have the common decency to share some supplies?" (Clearly, he intended to hold this situation over their heads.)

"Oh.." The doctor paused, seeming very meager against the demanding shinobi. "..Sure."

The doctor finally turned and walked away, and once he did, the muscular man at the table took the small item from his partner's hand, tucking it safely away.

"Make sure a medical shinobi of the highest rank receives that once you get to your village, and make sure they know what it is, and to handle it _carefully_. You can handle that while you're introducing him as well, correct?"

At his partner's words, the large man just shrugged as he began to take off some of his headgear. (Which also captured the attention of everybody else present.) "Yeah, yeah, no big deal."

As the doctor walked back over with cups and a pot of tea, he found something to latch onto and talk about, aside from whatever his 'guests'' identities turned out be. "Was that...blood?"

"Don't worry about it, Masuda-san." Was the answer he was granted as politely as possible, despite that he was written off. (Yet again.)

So, because of this the doctor simply remained quiet as he watched the masked men swiftly making themselves 'unmasked' men. They both were wearing the same sort of detailed coverage over their faces. After first unsnapping and turning back the 'half-open' hoods over their heads, they also pulled down heavy scarves that wrapped around the lower half of their faces. Then, the two unbuckled and removed some mysterious form of protective gear that goggled their eyes and came over their mouths to form what surely had to be a protective mask to shield them from infection.

Lastly, they both wore what seemed like the standard make of ANBU and tracking shinobi masks, though the designs were different in being non-village-familiar. (And this did seem very strange.. For a moment.)

At the point that both men had removed the entirety of their facial covering, Masuda, as well as his group, were surprised by not just one matter, but two, and they found themselves so surprised, they hardly knew how to express this shock in words, or even how to go about addressing the matter.

"What the..", was the first quiet mumbling that came from the old doctor as his dark eyes glanced between the men, paying closer attention to one, in particular. "You... You look just like_-_"

"Don't let it bother you" The older and larger of the two formerly masked men spoke up, cutting the doctor off from any foolish words concerning his partner. " You don't have much to worry about from him.. Unless you get on his bad side. But I would keep my distance, still, just in case.."

"I know you two...", the doctor continued, ignoring the fact that initially shocked him, for now, (Though he did take a step back) "I've seen your faces before.. How can we trust you..? How do you even plan to be accepted by your own village?"

"Easy-" The muscular man spoke up with confidence. "My village has pardoned all of it's criminals. It is a safe place from the disease but they need extra hands to help deal with the disaster, so this is how they're handling with it... They are also letting in outsiders, and survivors that can make it there. They keep new arrivals quarantined for a few days before letting them roam around, but other than that.. It really is the best place to go right now."

"And..." The doctor's questioning eyes turned back to the more quiet guest, and he wrung his hands nervously, just looking at the man. "What about you... you're not going?"

"He has some errands he needs to run..", The muscular man spoke up in his partner's place as his partner chose to sip his tea in a preferred silence. It just so turned out that the younger man simply decided not to speak without his mask over his face, but this was left unexplained, "...but he'll be heading to the village as well, once he's finished his business."

"I see..." The doctor looked away from the smaller, silent man, back to the more muscled one. "Then... we leave tomorrow?"

The muscular man at the table sipped the hot beverage that he had been holding clasped in one large, calloused hand, though he chuckled to himself afterwards, giving the doctor a deadly smirk. (Though he addressed the entire group.) "That's right. So you all need to pack up supplies and whatever you want to take with you, then get a good night's rest..."

"...because outside these protective walls... It's hell."

* * *

tbc..


	2. Chapter 2

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_It's all just so tragic, as a slaughterhouse, you press the knife against your heart and say that, 'I love you so much, you must kill me now..'_  
_I love you so much, you must kill me now._

:: ::

The city was cold and covered in an almost untouched blanket of white. As Sasuke looked out upon the city streets, he reflected on normal winters in Konoha. They were usually very light, and when it snowed, the icy mess was always quickly shoveled aside by dutiful Konoha residents. Now, however, the only break in the deep snow that littered the grounds were shuffled paths through it, where those creatures moved by night.

The air was still, and foggy, and silent, mist hovering near the ground and obscuring any hope for vision- It had Sasuke's eyes glowing in a nervous shade of red. Sharingan couldn't see very well through mist, but they still functioned much better than normal vision, and much more quickly.

Standing behind the Uchiha boy was his young, female partner. Her hands clutched at the beige cape around Sasuke's lithe frame, her fingers trembling, along with the rest of her body as her head snapped right and then left constantly in a frightened pattern. Sasuke could not say he felt any different, though he tried to hide his own nervous shaking. The team had braved a few ventures out into Konoha to locate food, so this wasn't the first time he had faced the terror of making himself vulnerable.

In his mind, he tried to think of this the same as he had his shinobi missions. Both he and Sakura had learned survival, and had better chances on their own than any non-shinobi, which made their odds of surviving this disaster a bit higher. But now, just living was like a never-ending S-rank mission, and it was completely without the comfortable presence of a jounin constantly by their side.

[Not one single member of team 7 had heard a peep from Kakashi since this all started, so they just assumed he had died.]

Sasuke turned around slightly, just enough to reach back and take Sakura's gloved hand into his own to comfort her. He knew they could not just stand in front of the apartment building entrance gaping, they had to get moving. His voice spoke up softly, almost without audible sound, and the warmth of his breath let out puffs of steam as it clashed with the cold air surrounding them. "Come on, Sakura.. You heard what Naruto said. We only have a few hours to get as far away from here as we can, before that _thing_ breaks free."

Surprisingly, the pink-headed girl did not rush forward to cling to the Uchiha who stood before her, she just nodded her head as her blueish-green eyes glanced around, expecting a monster to come running at any moment, though she knew they hid during the day.

With an agreement met, the raven-headed teen took the first steps out into the streets, crunching down into the slush that had crusted over during the morning hours. His foot sank straight down into the slush and snow, the chill of it leaking into his skin, but he put his other foot forward, standing up to his knee in the blanket of icy white that had coated Konoha's streets and rooftops. He wasn't even sure that his feet were touching the ground beneath the compacted snow, or if he had merely sank down as far as his foot could go before it met a layer of ice. He didn't particularly care, nor was he even paying close attention to this fact. He kept his eyes trained on the distance, knowing Sakura was carefully glancing about to watch their left, and right, and behind them. She may have been traumatized beyond logical words, but she was still a shinobi.

The pair had continued perhaps a few blocks down the street, nervously walking on one another's heels as they carved an ungraceful path into the snow, when Sakura proved that she still had some sense left in her. A tiny hand tugged at the beige cape of her teammate, fingers pushing into Sasuke's back, and he looked back at her with a serious but questioning expression, dark eyes finally showing honest concern for whatever she might have to say, whereas they had shunned her so many times in the past.

Sakura nervously glanced back at the path the two young genin had made in the snow, tracing it silently with watery optics before she looked back up at Sasuke, her brows anxiously knitting together, the skin between wrinkled with worry.

She spoke without words, and after a few days of this, Sasuke had learned to read into what she was thinking. (It was easy, though, because very little else was on their minds but the situation at hand.) Instantly, the young Uchiha made a decent assumption of what the kunoichi at his back was wondering- Would those things be able to follow them because of the tracks through the snow? It seemed completely likely. They had always hoarded around the building of Sasuke's apartment on nights after team 7 snuck out to scavenge, until the trails were covered in new snow, and hidden.

Before he could strike up a suggestion of his own, the avenger's attention was captured by the pink-haired girl as she lifted one foot to the unbroken top of the powdery blanket. With what seemed like a moment of concentration, Sakura paused, then finally lifted herself up, and walked on top of the snow, without sloshing down into it.

At first, the Uchiha didn't know how she was doing it, but with a moment of thought, he saw into the strategy, and realized how obvious it was. Of course- She had simply spread out her chakra, and distributed her body mass in the wider area. She always was good with chakra control; Sasuke gave his teammate a nod before he stepped up, on top of the snow, himself, and they easily picked up the pace, their tracks also not nearly as distinct as they had been.

Once they made it deeper into the heart of the city, however, they slowed slightly. Those _things_ liked to hide out in the dark crevices of abandoned buildings, but who knew if they could be tempted out of hiding by a tasty morsel. The Uchiha gulped as he looked about, wary of any imaginary shadow that moved among the dense fog, and with trembling that had doubled, Sakura clung so tightly to Sasuke's arm that it had begun to hurt. The only reason he didn't push her back is because he was somehow comforted at the notion of having his only living companion near enough to know she was still there.

The girl's lips quivered, and her teeth were chattering from cold and fear, and it was completely audible. She had realized, yet could not stop it, trying her best by keeping one hand pressed over her mouth as she breathed desperately through her nose.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was absorbed in the hollow feeling growing inside himself as he looked over the destruction. Buildings were torn apart, the windows shattered, some areas burned, or gouged with kunai and shuriken, the evidence of struggles having occurred. Signs were torn down, doors were ripped from their hinges, here and there were visible traces of blood spatters. Both young genin were glad to know that any leftover bodies were probably caked in ice and buried under the snow. If they hadn't figured out how to walk on top, they might have even been tripping over the decimated Konoha population right now.

The pace the two shinobi moved at had grown pathetically slow as they inched quietly over the snow, watching out for even the slightest movement. They were finally roused to quicken their pace as a sound met their ears. Both genin froze in place at what sounded like muffled hisses, and they looked around frantically for the source. It was revealed to them sooner than they would have liked; A screeching wail echoed hysterically out from one of the destroyed, deserted buildings, and this caused Sakura to bolt off in a flash.

The girl ran as if her life depended on it, but with almost no conscious thought whatsoever. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and in her mind all she could see was that man, that creature who was eating her mother. His luminous, white eyes, the emptiness of them. The death-like pallor, and thoughtless movement, and those gleaming, sharp teeth glaring out from his gaping mouth, which was coated in blood.

Sasuke had been equally startled by the sudden noise, yet he kept his wits about him; he had to. His teammate had given him no choice as she vanished into the mist, and it was all Sasuke could do just to follow her based on the noise of her running, and try to catch up. It took a few moments, but the avenger easily caught up with the young girl, having to go only one step less than tackling her to halt her crazed dashing. He rushed into her, and threw his arms around her. Of course, she struggled at first, but he shushed her, and returned her hand into his own, just to rush off with her back in tow.

The pair did not hesitate any longer, they just ran. They ran for the gates of Konoha, unsure of whether the danger would lessen or mount in the surrounding forests, but for now they didn't care. Both knew that if they stayed in Konoha, one way or another, they would die.

So they just ran, not thinking about anything but survival.

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Some part inside each member of this tiny group wanted to stay huddled in their safe haven, just cowering from the blood-thirsty creatures that skulked about at night, shuffling mindlessly, and living off pure instinct and sensory information, searching for a meal of flesh to strip from the bones of a human, even as they flailed and tried to escape. Every member wanted to just stay inside and avoid those creatures, even if they had to live every night listening to those _things_ growl and moan as they moved about outside.

Masuda stood, without a word, the middle-aged man unsure if he was fit for survival beyond the safety that had been offered to him during this tragic disaster. He just tended to his young daughter, trying to shush away the fright that engulfed those watery, dark eyes. The doctor hummed an old lullaby that his wife used to sing to the girl, certain that his voice was not as lovely, but perhaps comforting as he braided his daughters long, black hair, and placed a thick coat over her shoulders, bidding her to slip her arms inside.

He had made sure that she was covered completely, and that she would be warm; a fuzzy, woven scarf was wrapped around her neck, and over her face with care, before he pulled a hood over the top of her head. But, despite his worrisome tending to the girl, who was he to fool himself into thinking he was strong enough to protect her?

Burly Kano covered himself in thick layers as well, but he left himself plenty of room for movement. He, on the other hand, was certain he could protect the ones he cared for, and it was all because he was simply determined to do so without fail. He had fulfilled this so far, and he would continue, even if it meant giving up his own life. He had to- He owed Masuda-san far too much debt to fail him.

The group had packed the night before; They brought along plenty of food, and tea, and a pot for boiling water. They brought extra clothes, and medical supplies, and even an extra blanket or two. Because of this, the larger man of the duo that had arrived the night before, and the one who would be escorting these pathetic survivors, was suddenly pleased as punch.

His partner was not so tedious about supplies, and because of this, the duo had been living off the bare minimums. True, they were excellent survivors, especially given that they were hardened shinobi of the roving lifestyle, but living without some luxuries was terribly boring.

The only thing that this particular shinobi found troublesome was carrying along three useless people who hardly contributed in any kind of positive way, aside from being able to carry supplies, and the one man being a doctor. However, the worst detail of all was that his younger partner would be ditching him to handle some kind of private business. Fighting the infected hoards was going to be a real pain in the ass without the quiet, younger male.

The muscular, masked man heaved a great sigh of frustration, wanting to seem maybe more annoyed than he really was, if only to make the small group following him more grateful for his generosity. It wasn't in his nature to help those too weak to help themselves. "Alright, tell me you three are ready to leave? The sun was up thirty minutes ago, and with daylight burning, the likelihood of us making it to another safe area is decreasing."

The smaller of the masked men hovered silently behind his partner, watching as the survivors they had found finished their own nervous preparations. He didn't have to wait for them, since he would be going his own way, but he wanted to make sure they got off to a smooth start, at the very least. In a soft, neutral voice, he questioned his partner, checking to make sure the man had everything under control. "You have your path marked on your map, right? I hope you took care to make sure that you'll find plenty of towns along the way for shelter. I'm certain these people won't be able to cover ground as quickly as you and I alone."

"Yeah, don't worry." The larger of the masked men gave his partner a backward glance, waving his hand around in the air nonchalantly. "We'll be traveling along the border of Hi no Kuni; there will be plenty of places to find shelter. You know how busy these large countries are at the borders. But hopefully we'll make it to the coast quickly enough. I'll be a lot more at ease once we are off land, and at sea, instead."

The younger of the duo just nodded, while the group of non-shinobi finally moved toward the door, signaling that they were prepared, finally. Kano stood in front of the older doctor, and Masuda held his daughter securely in his arms, unwilling to let her go. None of the group showed any willingness to take the first step out of their shelter, which caused the tall, masked man to chuckle to himself, and he began moving the objects which barricaded the door aside himself. He next unlatched the heavy door, and opened it with a ghastly creak that was more like a painful moan.

The vibrantly bright scenery outside glared at the group instantly, surely causing them all to blink in discomfort as their eyes adjusted; It truly was a stark contrast to the shady, candle-lit shelter that was tightly closed off from outside.

But the uncomfortable brightness of the heavy, winter weather was not the most immediate subject for attention. The entire group focused in a synchronized manner at the stain of blood on the ground directly before the door. It hadn't been covered by the constant fall of snow, because it had been obsessively dug at until morning, the body of the man the shorter masked shinobi slaughtered no longer present at all. That man's body had been picked apart so thoroughly, even his bones had been dragged off, probably gnawed down to stumps, and sucked clean of marrow.

The younger of the masked men just stared for a moment, sickened. True, he had killed the man, and he did not feel remorse for ending his life, because it was more an act of mercy than anything. But what truly disgusted him was the nature of these creatures. These things were once human, yet now they were so mindlessly ravenous, they weren't even worthy of being called animals. No, they were lower than that.

And the truth of the very history behind the sudden outbreak of this particular disease hit him so close to home, he couldn't help but feel some guilt, even while none of this was his fault. It made him feel despicable for not having to worry the same way everyone else in the world did. It made him feel sick just for being _who_ and _what_ he was.

He spoke nothing of his guilt as he carefully avoided the blood stain, while taking the first few steps out into the frigid snow. He did speak up in warning for the survivors, however, cautioning them, and feeding them information of keen importance. "..It would be best to avoid contact with infected blood, that is, if you didn't already know that. The virus will cling to your clothes, and it can seep right into your pores, so be mindful at all times."

The entire group followed in single file from the building, tiptoeing around the blood with caution, though the burly, blonde man called Kano lingered just long enough to lock up the building, just in case the world ever returned to normal, and he could resume his life.

At the same time, the middle-aged doctor found himself looking the shorter of the two masked men over, taking in the words he had spoken, and analyzing them. He knew that the masked shinobi knew about the virus, but he wasn't exactly sure how he knew so much, or why. He felt so stupidly helpless for being unaware of these important facts when he, himself, was a doctor. He was also puzzled, and wishing he had acquired an explanation for the younger shinobi's appearance beneath that mask- It was terrifying and otherworldly, yet he still spoke and acted as any normal human would.

All of this was not so important, though, and what Masuda focused on with the most intensity was the extra mask hanging at the younger shinobi's hip, going unused. This virus was so determined that it would infect you by any means necessary. You could breath it, and it could even seep into your skin, so any extra protection was a great aid; And if that man wasn't using the extra mask, why not lend it to somebody who could?

"Pardon me, but.." The doctor spoke up, his dark, intelligent eyes staring into the mask of the smaller shinobi. "You have an extra mask with you that you're not using.. Would you mind giving it to my daughter?"

The younger, masked shinobi responded very simply, with a soft shake of his head. "I'm sorry.. I have a future use in mind for my other mask.."

Being forced to deny this request must have extracted further sympathy from the young shinobi, a surprising amount of compassion for his fellow human becoming somewhat evident beneath impassive words, and seemingly brutal actions. It left his partner feeling a bit shocked, but he just shrugged it off, assuming that even the coldest man didn't long to see the extinction of his entire race. Then again, considering his partner's reputation, that was a bit contradictory. But it was a very indulgent mystery to consider.

Wanting to offer some sort of aid to these non-shinobi people, the smaller of the masked men drew forth a tiny sphere from beneath his cloak, and held it out to Masuda in a gloved hand. "It's a flash bomb.. Those things can't tell the difference between artificial light and sunlight, so it will break up a hoard momentarily, giving you a greater chance of escape. Use it, in case of an emergency."

The older man nodded solemnly to the shinobi, and took the object from him. It was quickly stashed in a pouch that was easily accessible, and the doctor quietly thanked the masked ninja.

"..Okay, let's get moving. We're wasting time." With stern, commanding words, laced subtly with annoyance, the larger shinobi finally began to urge his group along. The three non-shinobi sank down into the snow, unable to use chakra for better movement, and it put them at a terrible disadvantage. This was why the older shinobi found it necessary to start their journey so immediately. He gave one last glance at his partner, and received a nod in return, the pair both silently agreeing to make it to safety without troublesome, tedious words. With this assurance, the large masked shinobi turned, and started along his path, while his partner headed in an opposing direction, completely alone.

:: ::

The pair of young genin had been traveling for a few hours, the speed in which they were moving along having increased since they made it into the coverage of the forests. Both finally felt a bit more secure knowing they could skip about the trees, finding comfort in the advantages of height, cover provided by the foliage, and a less traceable path. They were still careful in every action, not wanting to slip on any iced-over surfaces, or risk landing on a rotted branch.

They felt much more safe than they had, even more than they did when hiding away inside Sasuke's tightly locked apartment. This sense of security made the boy genin comfortable enough with taking a slight break to check his map. He stopped, putting a hand out to halt his female teammate, and he lowered himself to sit upon the sturdy branch where they had landed. Luckily, it was not covered in snow, because of the density of the canopy above. The forests of the Fire Country were very old and healthy, and extremely thick, blotting out most of the light. This made it a bit more difficult for the Uchiha to read the map he pulled from his pocket, but he had a good idea of how far they had gotten, and could estimate how much longer before they reached the village he was headed toward.

Sasuke had carefully planned this before daring to step a single foot out of his apartment. He was somewhat familiar with the nations who were allied with Konoha, and thought it would be most wise to head in the direction of those villages first. An ally to Konoha would be more likely to accept survivors from Konoha; It seemed possible that aversion and resent still lingered between certain nations, even in crisis. But, many of these villages were smaller than Konoha itself, and Sasuke also wondered what the likelihood of lesser nations surviving where Konoha met destruction were.

For now, Sasuke decided on moving in a Northern direction, wanting to venture first to the newly formed village in the Rice Field Country, since it was close, and from there he would move East, then back in a Southeastern direction, the last village he planned to visit being Suna.

The boy estimated that he and Sakura were about halfway between Konoha and the Hidden Sound, though he wasn't sure if they could make it there before dark.

The map in the male genin's hand was carefully folded and slipped away, and he drew a container of water from his luggage, which he shared with his mute teammate. She sipped the water, trying to take only enough to keep herself hydrated, while restraining the urge to drink too much. The way she had been acting and moving, it was noticeable that she could have been in some kind of discomfort that was now soothed slightly by drinking a bit of water. Of course, she did not speak of whatever was troubling her, she just stared distantly into space, her eyes far away from reality.

Finishing, the girl handed the container back to Sasuke, who put it away in a pack that he was carrying against his hip, underneath the protective cloak he wore for insulation. After he put this away, he knew that they should keep moving, but he felt so tired, and he assumed his body had grown a bit lazy after being trapped away in his apartment for three days. What he really wanted to do was just doze off here in the trees, the dark surroundings a bit lulling to the tired boy. But, a sudden noise jolted the Uchiha from his haze, and his eyes flickered immediately to the side, searching for the source of the sound. He knew that he hadn't imagined it, because Sakura had heard it to- She showed this in the way she immediately jumped to her feet, and glanced around frantically, her glassy greenish-aqua eyes moving about faster than she could even think.

Trying to remain calm, the Uchiha first made a point to subdue his teammate before she ran off in a foolish panic again. He gently pushed her back against the trunk of the tree, and trapped her body between it and his own. He kept his hands against the tree's bark at each of the girl's sides, and shielded her as he leaned a bit to side to look around the tree.

What the duo hadn't taken into account was that the darkness of this dense forest was a perfect shade for night-dwelling creatures. Blotting out the sun, it removed one of the only weaknesses of the diseased creatures, and there, just within visual range, Sasuke spotted one of them shuffling about as if in some kind of predatory daze.

His breath was instantly captured in his throat, and he felt utterly paralyzed at this visual, so tense and frozen that he could not even look away from the thing for a moment. Its clothes hung from it in tatters, what used to be, perhaps, a white top was now reduced to blood and dirt-spattered shreds. Its pants still clung to it, though they were covered in every disgusting substance one could imagine, and ripped a bit here and there. It had long, black hair that was tangled and dirty, and hung along its back, and over its shoulders as it crept about on all fours like any other forest animal might.

The avenger didn't immediately get a good look at its face, thankfully, because it was looking in every direction but that of the two genin, for now, and that mess of disheveled raven hair must have obscured its vision slightly.

The young Uchiha ducked his head back behind the tree he stood near, finding himself looking at a terrified Sakura, trapped in his grasp. The look in her wide eyes begged him to please tell her that nothing was there. Sasuke could only place a finger over his lips to suggest that she not let a single noise escape, and this brought forth a shimmer of unshed tears from the pink-haired girl's watery optics, but as told, she dared not let even a loud breath escape.

Then, the male genin pointed in the direction that they were meant to be moving, to tell his teammate without words that they were going to make a run for it. Sakura shook her head softly, her body rigid, but trembling, her hands balled into tight, nervous fists that she kept pressed into her chest unconsciously, though it was so akin to a frightened little animal shrinking into itself. One of those frail hands was captured in a determined squeeze, desperate red eyes delving into the young kunoichi's with insistence gleaming and obvious. The boy's other hand was held up for Sakura to see, and he raised three fingers, forming a quiet countdown with his hands, indicating exactly when the pair would make a dash. One finger laid down, then another, and when the last finger folded, both shinobi jumped for the next nearest limb, and the next, and the next.

In all honestly, the avenger had expected their running pace to sorely outmatch the creature's, because while they were tenacious, and persistent, and liked to move in large, huddled groups, they were incredibly stupid, and less nimble than even a genin. But, this particular creature, to Sasuke's dread, was different from the others, somehow. The very instant it spotted the two, young, tender, tasty kids, it let out a howling shriek, and went to pursuit.

The speed it possessed as it ran along the ground on all fours, even as awkward as it seemed, was a very close match for the two shinobi as they branch-leaped in a frantic rush. A coal-black eye glanced backwards just long enough to see the creature covering ground like a wolf or a cougar, its mouth gaping, saliva dribbling up along its cheek as the wind whipped at its face. This alone seemed troublesome enough for the two fleeing shinobi in this critical situation, then suddenly, as if some unknown switch had been flipped, the creature bursted with a new surge of speed, closing the gap between himself and his two, young prey-items. With one great leap, he sprang up, into the branches, digging claws from bloodied hands and fingers into the tree bark, and he clung to the surface with ease. One hand swiped out in the direction of the two shinobi, those claws barely missing Sakura's arm.

The girl could feel the wind whipping past her, even through her sleeve, and her skin broke out into gooseflesh as her silenced voice made itself heard, only to squeal in horror at just the notion that it had gotten that close to her, and it may possibly catch her, then tear her apart, limb from limb.

It seemed impossible for the two shinobi to attempt more speed in their flight from the pursuing monster, but the close brush with destruction was all the encouragement that the young girl needed, and even though her body was trembling and weak with fright, adrenalin gave her all she needed, including newly found speed.

Sasuke, just as much, was able to speed up along with his kunoichi partner, as both of them were clinging to survival with the peak height of instinct. The male did not consider this a risk any longer, and his sharingan eyes focused easily on the path before him, easing the split second decision of where he was to land each time he made a jump. No, this could not be a risk, and it didn't matter very much if it was, because the thing that was slashing and nipping right at their heels, his attacks were almost hitting their mark each time he leaped forward. The two young ninja jumped only seconds before the creature's powerful strikes came down, intended to tear them apart, and knock them from the trees to lay helpless and broken in the snow below.

Every single time, that beast came so close, his strikes destroying the limbs in his path, the sound like cracking bones, chorused by his screeches, and the wet, forceful snapping of his jaws as he salivated, ravenously savoring the apprehension of a meal soon to be within his grasp. The overwhelming strain of the dire life or death situation, the gruesome reality fo what might happen if she missed a single step or slowed, had Sakura's eyes streaming with tears as she ran, her hand tightly clasping Sasuke's as her mind fell into some imaginary hope that she could sprout wings and fly away from this nightmare.

The girl ran, yet her eyes became clouded, the tears obscuring the already-dark image of the forest that sprawled endlessly before them, and even while she brushed the hindrance away with her arm, her one moment of weakness was the only one needed to drive her into peril. Upon coming to land on a branch, her foot slid forward, out from beneath her, and she toppled from the branches, down, down to the cold, wet, forest floor. Her frail, tiny body struck the snow, sinking deeply into it as if it were a cold pit, a grave, and she hit the frozen surface below with a harsh thud, the tiny but jagged icicles that sprouted up from the ground cutting into her skin.

She cried out, her voice tearing up from her lungs, ripping free from her thin throat, but before she even hit the ground, the young avenger had realized his partner had fallen. He could not stop himself immediately, and he landed upon the next branch in his vision before he could even look back. This, to him, was a worse horror than running from that creature- Seeing the monster descending the tree, climbing down and clinging to the rough surface with nails like talons, pale, white eyes glaring hungrily at a helpless Sakura, threatening to take away the only person, as far as Sasuke knew, who was even left in this world.

'No!'; This was all the young Uchiha could think, and he screamed it to himself inwardly, not having the breath to express it outwardly. He wasted not even one single second. He jumped down from the tree just as the creature pounced for the girl. The moment played in Sasuke's crimson eyes like a movie in freeze frame, and in the sheer urgency of this single second, his eyes perceived each detail of this scene in perfect understanding, seeing what would happen, and what had to be done to save Sakura's life. The boy landed beside his female teammate, grabbing her as he rolled to the side, out of the path of that monster, who landed there that very next second after.

Everything flowed together in perfect sync; As they rolled, both genin's hands sought out a kunai tucked just within reach, and once they came upright, both hurled a kunai in the direction of the glaring beast just before it set upon them.

As the beast screeched, and shook the two kunai out from his flesh, the two young ninja got up to their feet, just to see that the creature was almost entirely unfazed by the weapons that had pierced him, as if he did not feel it at all. Sasuke and Sakura could not run, because that thing would tackle them even faster than they could turn to escape, and the Uchiha boy understood that fact almost instantly. He knew what had to be done- Either he or Sakura would have to be sacrificed, and he made the decision quickly, giving one of them enough time to run before the monster attacked.

"Sakura, go!" His voice echoed out to his mute teammate, and he shoved her forcefully to set her on her way, which she did without further question. There was not a damn chance that Sasuke was going to stand by helplessly, and watch his teammate die, when he could save her. He was no defenseless child anymore, and he would stand his ground. Sakura bolted off out of sight, leaping up into the trees, and just as planned, the beast paid her no mind, his white eyes glowing with hunger as he gazed upon the lithe Uchiha boy before him from behind dirty, black hair that hung in his face. His jaws were gaping, saliva dripping from his mouth, down his blood-stained chin.

But Sasuke did not plan on being an easy meal for this thing, and just as the monster jumped, assuring it had no chance to move aside or shift his own trajectory, the Uchiha boy wove the most rapid handseals he had ever accomplished in his life, taking a deep breath as he gathered a surge of chakra in his chest, and he unleashed it in a whirl of flame, hotter and more untamable than any fireball the boy had ever created. As the flame engulfed the monster, Sasuke jumped aside, the monster landing where the Uchiha had been standing, his pale body sizzling and burning to an ash gray before a roll in the snow put out the fire.

Uncertain as to whether this would stop the thing, Sasuke began to back away, but red eyes never once removed themselves from the creature. It flailed, and squirmed in the snow, shrieking out in a craze. It did manage, though its flesh was seared from its muscle and bones in some areas, to crawl up onto all fours, and it glared at the Uchiha boy with a stare of bitter, blood-thirsty resent before it let out a deep wail. This wail echoed throughout the woods, birds flying off startled as the ground practically trembled, then the thing collapsed.

In the moment of silence, the Uchiha boy breathed a deep sigh, though he glanced around nervously, eyes scanning the dark, misty forest before him and over his shoulders. He listened, hearing nothing but silent, dismal, stillness for an extended moment, and then, as he listened most intently, faintly, he heard the soft echo of rapid footsteps through the slush littering the forest floor. In that very instant, he froze, but his heart pounded in terror.

Once the fright released his body from paralysis, it jolted him from standing still, to moving with the same furious speed that he had mustered while he was being pursued by that creature. He lept into the branches above, and bolted off after his teammate.

He found Sakura very quickly and easily. She had fled a slight distance away, but stopped not far from where she had left Sasuke behind. The pink-haired girl was perched high in a tree, the ground far beneath her, and she was curled into herself, her body shaking all over as she sobbed pitifully into gloved hands. The avenger immediately approached her, unsure if she was upset thinking he had died, or if she had been hurt. The sound of him landing suddenly on the branch where she was waiting startled her, and she looked up suddenly, her eyes reflecting panic and fear, but it easily melted into relief.

"..You weren't supposed to stop running." The Uchiha spoke quietly, but sternly, though his eyes looked down at his female teammate with concern, wondering if she was alright. He leaned down next to her, and he took one of her arms in his hand, and pushed her sleeve back, observing the tiny cuts from where she fell from the tree and hit the icy ground.

"..We don't have time to tend to these yet.. Something else is still following us, so we have to hurry." Sasuke's words were gentle as he pushed the girl's sleeve back down, but even as he tried to inform Sakura of the facts calmly, she still moved to tangle her fingers in his cloak in a panic, her eyes wide with fear, and she shook her head frantically.

"..Hey, just calm down." The boy's voice continued, soft and gentle, and he tried to grab Sakura by her shoulders to give her a slight shake, hoping it might snap her out of her hysterics, but that didn't work. So, instead, the boy pressed himself nearer to his friend, and he wrapped his arms around her, trying to shush her as if she were a frightened child. After a moment she stilled, and Sasuke backed off, looking her calmly in the face, trying to instill some of his own clear-mindedness in her.

"..Listen.." The boy glanced off to the side, sighing to himself. "..When I was younger, after I lost my family, I would panic sometimes, too.. Sometimes I would just get overwhelmed by being alone, and I felt helpless or frightened of irrational things..."

These words alone appeared to have an effect on the girl, her greenish-aqua eyes focusing on Sasuke as he spoke, even through the pink locks that fell messily into her face. She still trembled, but for now, her mind seemed clear, so Sasuke continued.

"..When I was afraid, I would close my eyes, and try to feel the rush of my own chakra.. Try that."

As instructed, Sakura closed her eyes, easily able to inwardly delve into the stream of chakra inside herself, being that she had incredible control over it, even as a genin. She did not yet understand how it was supposed to calm her, but she did it, listening to Sasuke's quiet voice as he continued to speak.

"The flow itself is usually so calm, like a quiet stream. We can force it to rush, and to redirect, and to gather, but when left alone, it's like a soft, gentle, glowing rush, and if you concentrate hard enough, you can even imagine yourself sitting beside it, as if it really were a stream, out in some warm, sunny meadow, where birds are flittering about and chirping peacefully... And it makes you feel more calm, if you try to make the entirety of yourself flow along with your chakra.."

A moment or two after Sasuke finished, Sakura opened her eyes, and looked up at him. He tried to smile a bit, though he was still glancing around nervously, hearing that patter of footsteps echoing in the forest as surely the one they belonged to tracked the pair. It was worrisome, and he was anxious to get moving. "..If you feel better, then we should go."

It came as a surprise when the pink-headed girl instantly shook her head to her male partner, her eyes nervous, and her cheeks flushed. It was a surprise, and it was bothersome, but the Uchiha remained calm, holding his hands up in questioning as his eyes silently bid an explanation from the mute girl.

Sakura glanced off to the side, her pink hair falling forward in wisps to hide her face as she shuddered in fear and embarrassment, not knowing what to do, though she also couldn't find her voice to speak. Hesitantly, she moved her hand beneath her cloak, then drew it out into visual to show the palm of her glove, stained murky crimson.

Instantly, Sasuke panicked; He was fairly sure that nothing had attacked Sakura, but he had no idea how she would have gotten injured enough to bleed that much. In his mind, he could understand here and now that Sakura seemed to be giving up. She was hurt, and refused to go any further, whether it was because she thought she may hold the boy back or not.

"Sakura, let me see. We brought medical supplies, we can treat your injury, and you can keep going for now.. Then later we can try to do more." The Uchiha boy brushed back the cover of the girl's cloak, hoping to locate the area of injury, yet for reasons unknown, the girl began to struggle. Whatever was going through her mind, she was intent of stopping Sasuke from finding out what was wrong, and she grabbed his wrists in an attempt to shove him away.

This did not deter the Uchiha boy, and he spoke up in a confused tone as he tugged against Sakura's hold on him. "Sakura, why won't you let me help?"

After growing tired of the games, and anxious, knowing they should be trying to escape as quickly as they could, Sasuke ripped his arms from the girl's grasp, and he grabbed her arms instead, pinning them down so she couldn't struggle while he looked for the source of her bleeding. Sakura still struggled slightly, though she turned her head away as she sniffled quietly, obviously ashamed or afraid, but the Uchiha didn't understand why. It wasn't until his scanning eyes noticed a crawling reddish stain upon the dark green of the girl's pants, directly between her two slender legs that he realized why she had reacted in such a way.

The boy quickly jumped back, releasing the female shinobi from his grasp, and in embarrassment, she dropped her head, and hid her face in the palms of her hands. Just as flustered and awkward as Sakura herself, Sasuke backed off for a moment, his cheeks flushing, while his pulse quickened, a guilty feeling overcoming him. He felt like a complete jerk, but at the same time, he couldn't understand without her speaking and certainly didn't consider that Sakura would be having her.. Well, boys don't really think about that. Still, he couldn't be distracted by the uncomfortable nature of the situation- He had to focus, because they needed to be moving, and he cared enough about Sakura to try and help her with this problem. They needed to get past the personal issue, because there were more dire issues at hand.

Sasuke's hand dipped into his pack, and he rummaged through his kit of medical supplies, digging out what he needed, and he looked up at his shivering partner, holding out to her what he had drawn from his bag. It was only gauze, bandages and some shinobi binding material, but he figured these would help in absorbing the blood and restraining it enough so that it didn't get everywhere and further embarrass Sakura, or make it uncomfortable for her to move around. "Here.. Use these. I'll turn around, but that's the best I can do. I don't really want to risk leaving your side."

Hesitantly, the girl glanced up, her eyes puffy and reddish from all the crying she was doing lately. She looked tired and frail, but somewhere deep in her watery eyes, there was a flicker of relief, and trust. She modestly accepted the supplies from her male teammate, and as promised, he turned his back on the girl, happy enough to hide his flushed face.

While Sasuke wasn't looking, Sakura quickly used what she had been given and she secured it into place. Not only was she shy about having to take off her pants around Sasuke, but it was freezing cold, and the air bit harshly at her skin while it was exposed. She tapped him on the shoulder once she finished, and he looked back at her, his eyes warm and concerned, but she gave him a nod to assure him that it was alright now, and that she was thankful for his help.

But both shinobi knew what this meant- They already were aware of another presence growing nearer, they could hear it running through the forest, coming for them, and with the smell of blood in air, they would be even easier to track, and certainly more vulnerable.

So Sasuke climbed to his feet, and securely grasped Sakura's hand in his own, and they bolted off hurriedly, leaping through the trees, back on track, and heading for the nearest town, hoping beyond all hope that they could find a suitable shelter, though the reasons for worry grew steadily.

Having seen that thing out in the forest, not only were they now aware of the existence of even stronger creatures, but it made them dread what they may find as they scoured the land for survivors, or villages that still stood, untouched. It made them doubt that anybody else was alive in the world but them.

::

..tbc..

::

_Author's note: Psst- If you're reading this story, and you want me to update it REALLY often, you'd better go vote for it in the poll that you can find at the top of my user profile. Otherwise, another story may be selected to be updated most often, instead of this one._

_Oh, and even if you don't want to review the story, do me a huge favor, and at least give me feedback on the OCs in the story. Do you like them? Hate them? Any feelings about them? This will help me know whether to feature them more or less.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_Late dawns and early sunsets, just like my favorite scenes. Then holding hands and life was perfect, just like up on the screen. And the whole time while always giving, counting your face among the living._

:: ::

They weren't sure how long they had been running- It only felt like perhaps an hour or so in reasonable time, but the forest they had left behind them was like a maze of identical trees, suffocating them in its endlessness.

Their hearts were pounding, and their breath rushed quickly out in pants from their lungs, forming puffy clouds of steam as the moisture hit the biting cold of the surrounding air.

As the two young shinobi stood, catching their breath, they remained hand-in-hand, fearful that they might glance away from one another, and suddenly find their only companion lost forever. The lock between their hands was especially tight as both pairs of eyes scanned warily over the border of the town they had ventured through the forest to come to.

Perhaps they weren't sure what they had expected- No, they knew in their hearts what they would find, but the reality of it, seeing it, brought an intense surge of hopelessness to weigh against them. Suddenly, as both young Konoha ninja peered out into the gray, frozen, emptiness of the once bustling town that now lay before them in shambles, it served to quietly assure them that every town, city, or village that the human race had ever built was now decimated, and devoid of every single living person.

In the end, why even bother trying to find others? It was nothing more than a journey out into danger with fruitless results.

Sakura shivered as she stood with her feet covered in snow, her spirit cracked and teetering ever nearer to being completely shattered beyond repair. Her shoulders were trembling with such a force, one would think that somebody had her frail body mounted on strings, which they were jerking nonstop.

One hand splayed about her face as her greenish eyes flooded with a steady stream of tears that she simply could not halt. Her Uchiha partner knew she had plenty of reasons for these tears, be it the cold, or hopelessness, or fear, and everything else that had happened until now, but he didn't know which dilemma held the most weight in the girl's mind.

She was afraid, yes; So was he. But though he, too, felt like collapsing, and giving up, his will to persist, to go on living, was too strong, and he maintained whatever calm and focus that he could muster for both of their sakes.

The male genin felt his legs shaking from all the running, and his throat and lungs stung from the chilled air. He was tired, as was his partner, and daylight would fade in just a few hours. They had only enough time to locate shelter, and settle in.

In a nervous jolt, the girl's head whipped back, watery eyes flickering about the edge of forest that lay behind the two shinobi. Sasuke glanced in the same direction, his own crimson eyes scanning the dark spaces between the trees carefully as the snow began to pick up. He had yet to see another creature appear on their trail, though he still heard faint echoes of footsteps now and again, and exactly like a wild, timid animal, he paid close attention to every little noise and movement, constantly uneasy.

"We have to keep going." The young male's voice whispered softly to his partner as he took a step forward. The hand clasping his own gave a sharp tug back, however, and he turned to face Sakura, finding a terrified expression upon her countenance.

She was surely considering that any locals that had been transformed may still be lingering in areas of darkness within the town, and they would be apt to dart out of cover to pull a young, tasty meal back into the darkness to die slowly and gruesomely. Sasuke could remember that much from the creatures that remained back in Konoha.

"We don't have any other choice, Sakura.. We won't venture in too deeply. It'll be safer if we stay near the outskirts."

Sakura relented, hesitantly, but came to follow after Sasuke as he coaxed her along. As much as she should have been out of her mind by this point, her wits remained about her. She was startled by every movement and every dangerous notion, but just the same, wariness would help the two preteens survive.

The pair wandered into the city gates, taking each and every step slowly and lightly as they worked together to scan every nook, every little dark alley, where one of _them_ could hide. They would take as few chances as necessary.

Once they felt more comfortable, they lifted the pace by a slight degree, quickly analyzing each building, and considering it as shelter. The two of them had a fair amount of knowledge concerning where would be safe and where would be vulnerable.

They crept about along the town border for a while, knowing they didn't have much time to be selective, but they also could not afford to settle for any questionable buildings. Any little mishap would end with the two genin being overtaken in their haphazard dwelling during the perilous hours of the night.

At last the two Konoha shinobi rested their eyes upon a two-story building. It was constructed with brick, and looked durable, though older. There were windows along the lower floor, unfortunately, but the Uchiha had already prepared for such an occurrence. Near the beginning of the outbreak, Sasuke and Naruto had raided a construction supply-house, which the blonde boy conveniently knew about, due to his long history of stealing paint for the purpose of vandalism.

The two young shinobi scurried over to the building, jumping to land atop the wooden guard fence as nimbly as two alley cats, and they scouted quickly from there, not only for creatures, but for traps set by other survivors. They found nothing inside the yard of the building but a narrow walkway of pebbles that was littered with weeds, and old, cracked stepping-stones.

Gesturing for the pink-haired girl to stay put for a moment, the Uchiha boy jumped down into the scarce area of the yard, venturing around to each side of the building, just to be sure that he saw no signs of any hostile lifeforms, living or otherwise.

Within seconds, he returned to the front gate, finding his partner wisely keeping a keen eye out. Once the Uchiha boy gave her a nod to assure her that it was safe, she descended the fence, into the yard

Both preteen shinobi stared up at the front face of the building. The lower windows were cracked, some broken completely, but the place was less threatening due to the absence of blood-splatters that seemed so typical around any entrance or exit. This was reassuring, in a tiny way, but even slight comforts made a world of difference.

What remained to threaten the pair was that despite how the windows were battered or absent, curtains still seemed to flutter upon the openings, blocking out the light, and potentially safeguarding any mindless, infected cannibal that lurked within.

The dark-haired male swallowed quietly, nervously, while his partner shivered at his side; He remained undeterred, however, and his crimson sharingan climbed the brick structure, darting over every window until they laid upon one that was uncovered.

Without uttering a syllable, he pointed to the potentially safe means of entrance, and Sakura gave him a nod, agreeing, though anxiously.

Both shinobi scurried easily up the wall, clinging through precise chakra control, and coming to halt on opposing sides of the window, their palms pressed against the rough brick, chakra pulsing through their very fingertips to keep them stuck like crawling insects.

Carefully, Sasuke leaned to peep into the window. The room inside was empty, as if it had been vacant for a while, or at least since people started turning into monsters. Perhaps somebody had been here at the time of outbreak, but took everything in hopes of outrunning the disease? The avenger couldn't be certain, but he maintained some hope that his assumption could be true, and that perhaps there was some place untouched by this disaster.

One thin hand moved to open the window, which wasn't locked or secured in any way, and the teen crawled deftly inside, again motioning for Sakura to stay while he made sure that it was safe.

The room was wide, as if to provide enough space for everything one single person might own. A bed, a television, a couch, a bookshelf, and maybe a desk with a radio. The wallpaper was a pale, yellowish-custard color, and seemed new, as it reflected the light from outside with vigorous gleam; It felt a nice change from the gray of Sasuke's old apartment. The carpet was beige, and covered almost the entirety of the area, aside from a small, rectangular area of polished brick in front of a fireplace.

Sasuke let his eyes fully take in the empty room before they moved to the one dark doorway present. The possibility of finding one of _them_ inside the darkness of this other room had the teen paralyzed, attempting to rationalize (or irrationalize) his fear away, in order to regain some amount of courage.

He glanced over to the door that surely led to the hallway of the complex, noting that it was not only shut, but it appeared to be locked as well. Without any evidence of struggle, this meant that nothing could possibly be inside this room, or so the Uchiha hoped.

Still, the boy took a kunai in hand from his holster beneath the cloak he was wearing. It would do little to stop one of those creatures, but it was better than nothing. He held his weapon defensively as he crept toward the jarred door, and the waiting shadows. His footsteps didn't even cause a single creak, his movements soft and careful. When he came within range of the door, he leaned in, and nudged it open, quickly backing off a few steps to observe.

Nothing. The light poured into the room, a washroom, and he found nothing inside. He carefully took a step in, peering over toward the tub, then to the towel shelf upon the wall opposite the door, but nothing was hidden in any corner, waiting to spring out.

The girl waiting outside took this as affirmation of safety within this single apartment, and she climbed into the window, standing just beside it.

Crimson optics, ever alert, glanced back at the pink-haired girl before Sasuke spoke up quietly. "I'm going to check the rest of the building out.. Stay here."

Sakura pressed her fists against her chest nervously, but didn't speak one word of disapproval; It was times like these that Sasuke felt almost grateful for her silence. Still, he couldn't hide that he was also afraid- It was entirely likely that something was hiding in the undisturbed darkness of this abandoned building.

With the same ease and care that he had used in investigating the one dark room, the preteen shinobi unlocked the front door to the apartment, and slowly let it open as he backed away a few steps. The sunlight from the window dappled out into the short hallway, all the way to the opposing wall, and he didn't spot one single moving shadow in the dim light.

Sasuke had no protection, save for the one kunai he kept in hand, but he ventured out into the hall anyway, just glancing about. There was one other door before a stairway at the end of the hall which went both up and down. The boy slowly walked as far as the other door, rested his hand on the knob, and tried to turn it, only to find it locked. That was just as well; These things couldn't open locked doors, unless they tore it down, which meant that this apartment was probably secure.

Continuing, his breath slow, and shaky as he tried to keep himself entirely silent, the Uchiha ventured into the open area of the stairway, his luminous red eyes able to see decently well in the dark, similar to a cat's. He peered both down and up, not catching sight of any movement whatsoever; His eyes came to follow the upward stairs, and in the dark he observed what appeared to be an attic door, or something more similar to a cellar door.

In a quick witted realization, the preteen recognized that this was the door to the roof, and in hurried, yet tentative steps, he climbed the few stairs to reach it and swing it open without the hindrance of it being locked.

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes were blinded by the sudden surge of sunlight, but he blinked until they adjusted, and he poked his head up from the door to observe the roof of the building. It was constructed of solid cement, and flat, aside from chimney pipes that erupted here and there. Then, over in one corner was a bin that was decently full of cut firewood, clearly present for use in the fireplaces that must have been standard in each unit. The Uchiha took note of this in the back of his mind, certain it would come in handy.

The boy shinobi descended from the roof, more confident thanks to the sun pouring in from above, illuminating the formerly inky darkness of the area. Sasuke still remained careful, his kunai clasped tightly between thin fingers, and raised in his defense.

He continued, down, down, to the ground floor, his eyes flickering about wildly, taking in as much information as he could, and as quickly as possible. A nervous tremor crawled slowly up his spine, the cold air from outside more prevalent down below, nipping at his bare cheeks, and the tip of his nose; It all served to remind him of how the windows had been smashed in, and even more so as he came to stare at the two lower apartment doors, both standing ajar, left this way by whomever had come through here last.

(The real question was; How recently had somebody or _something_ been here last?)

Sasuke hated to admit it, but he honestly craved the presence of that idiot, Naruto, by his side at times like these. When the team was complete only a few days prior, and the trio went out into empty, destroyed, Konoha structures to scout for supplies, even with sickness beginning to sap his strength, Naruto provided at least some feeling of backup. It made Sasuke feel stronger knowing he had that gutsy imbecile there to help if they ran into trouble.

But now.. Sasuke was left to face the dangers all alone, and he didn't dare think of asking Sakura to come along. She was already so traumatized that she had forgotten how to speak, it wouldn't do any good to bring her down into the more dangerous areas.

The young shinobi shook his head, clearing his mind in order to focus as he approached one of the cracked apartment doors. He carefully pushed it completely open in the same fashion as he had been doing the entire time; He gave it a gentle shove, and backed off.

He quickly realized that it was unlikely that any creatures were present within the first apartment he looked into- There were curtains, but they were a very sheer crimson, letting in a blood-colored light, but still a form of light, regardless.

He didn't let his guard down, but he moved about the room, looking here and there as he padded softly across the floor. The room contained a couch, and a small entertainment center, where an old-looking television sat abandoned, and dusty. There was a fancy-looking end table next to the couch, which was surrounded in shards of shattered porcelain, probably the remnants of a teacup that had been carelessly shoved off the table.

There sat a rocking chair off to the side, near one of the far walls, and an old handmade quilt was draped over it without any real attention to tidiness. Next to it was a dresser with photos scattered on top, knocked over, and some cracked. The drawers were all left open, and a varying collection of knick-knacks had been strewn out and left on the floor.

Nearby was a small shelf, where toppled, framed photographs sat. Seeing it filled the teen with a melancholy sort of emptiness. The entire scene seemed sad; It reminded him of a tiny, humble home for an elderly widow, who had gained a large extended family over the years, yet saw hardly any of them. Just the same, it reminded Sasuke that he had no family, even before the disaster. It made him wonder if his one and only living relative was indeed still alive out there, somewhere..

Sasuke sighed, half trying to rid himself of his wandering thoughts, and half out of relief that this apartment, at least, seemed secure. It only looked as if the place had been looted in the chaos, but there were no monsters in sight.

This did not mean that he could say for sure whether the last remaining apartment was safe, however, and his anxiety returned as he practically tiptoed in silence back out the front door, and across the hallway to the last doorway. He pushed this door open in his same careful fashion, again relieved to see no immediate danger.

The room he was faced with this time seemed to reek of a young woman trapped in her teenage years. The wallpaper was torn now, but it appeared to have been a pattern of pink and white stripes, which matched perfectly to the pink and white decor, and the lacy pink drapes that covered the one window. It was so girly, it was sickening.

The quaint, little bed that sat against the far wall was unmade, but was still covered in a red comforter, and a mass of tiny, decorative pillows, and a pink stuffed rabbit with flopped ears. All of this laid upon the mattress in no particular order. Nearby sat a vanity, and a low-sitting chair with a pink cushion.

Sasuke wandered over to the vanity, finding the drawers open, and things thrown onto the floor, once again. The smell of perfume wafted up delicately from a shattered bottle that had been smashed on the carpet, but it seemed to have happened a few days ago, and the scent was finally drifting away, weakening. It still smelled faintly like roses, or something else soft and flowery.

There were all sorts of items messily scattered about, none of them of any particular use as the preteen observed. A large, tarnished-looking metallic case caught his eye, however, and he bent down to lift it into his hand and examine it. It was actually more like a tube than a compact, similar to the kind one might put a toothbrush in for travel, but larger. Curiosity pressed the boy to further inspect, and he opened the old tube just to find something unfamiliar inside.

It was a collection of long, thin objects wrapped tightly in paper, and for an extended moment, these objects left the Uchiha confounded at what they could possibly be. He considered possibly cigars, but he didn't think cigars were wrapped in paper. And for it to be any kind of food was ridiculous- That would have been taken by looters.

So, he simply decided to open the end of one single package, finding a gauzy, cotton tip surrounded in thin cardboard just beneath the paper. Then, suddenly, a faint blush rushed over his cheeks as he -finally- realized what it was he had come across. He wanted nothing more than to toss these items over his shoulder in disgust and embarrassment, but his fingers only tightened slightly while a feeling of awkwardness rushed through him. He knew this was actually an important discovery, though not so much for himself as it was for his companion.

Now certain that the place was free of those creatures, Sasuke climbed the stairs, back to the upper floor, and walked in a quiet gait back to the room where Sakura was waiting nervously, still standing just beside the window in the case that a hasty escape was necessary. The male quickly assured her with a gesture that things were safe, and he walked up to her long enough to place the tube (which he had closed up) into her hands. He said nothing of what it was, expecting her to figure that out for herself, which left her eyeing the thing with a questioning stare.

Sasuke avoided the obvious question that his partner was silently asking by speaking quickly in regards to other matters. "We have a few hours before sunset. I found firewood on the roof, so I'll make a fire in the fireplace to warm the room up, and boil water. I can do that quickly, then I'll make sure all the entrances to the building are blocked off. There's also some blankets and pillows downstairs. You can go down there and bring those up here for us to sleep on tonight, then clean yourself up."

The boy's dark eyes looked Sakura in the face, searching for an expression of understanding from her in response, since no words would be spoken. Indeed, she quietly nodded her head, which was satisfactory for the male, and he asked nothing more of her, turning on heel to accomplish exactly what he had spoken of, while leaving her to do as he'd asked.

Preparation for the night to come.. The hellish, unpredictable night to come.

::

She released a deep breath, the feeling of it warm against her knees as she sat in the lukewarm bathwater, her back toward the washroom entrance, her body folded into itself.

Her eyes were tired and sore. Her body was trembling nonstop, and her muscles felt weak. Her back was aching, and her abdomen was in knots. She didn't want to move from this spot, ever, or at least not until she felt well again. Even shifting the air around herself made everything hurt so much worse.

Why did it have to hurt so much to be female? Why did she have to be a girl at a time like this, when the world was turning upside down? Wasn't it bad enough that she was afraid at every passing second now, unable to feel safe for even a moment? Wasn't it bad enough that she could do so little to help?

Sasuke was busy making sure that the shelter would hold up and be safe for the night (His makeshift technique consisting of taking unnecessary doors off their hinges, and securing them over windows), and all she could do was gather pillows and blankets, and shovel snow into buckets to be boiled for bath and drinking water.

But this wasn't the only thing bothering her; When she had finally decided to look into that container that Sasuke had handed her before, not only was she completely embarrassed and ashamed to find female hygiene supplies, but.. She had never used a tampon in her life!

She laid her head down against her knees, her wet hair dripping, tiny droplets hitting the water in the tub below to produce a soft sound every few seconds. The young shinobi girl was filled with dread, but there was nothing she could do about it. This, along with everything else in this frightening new world around her, simply had to be endured. Even if she could speak, she couldn't explain her personal problems to Sasuke. Boys just didn't understand these sorts of things. He wouldn't understand that her body was small, and 'narrow', and not mature enough. He wouldn't understand that it just wasn't 'comfortable'.

As the door creaked, snapping the young girl out of her thoughts, she lifted her head to look over her shoulder. Through a crack in the door, Sakura's partner slipped halfway into the room, which she could see from the corner of her eye. This caused her immediately to fold even further into herself, attempting to cover her bare skin from sight. She couldn't tell that the boy wasn't really looking directly at her.

Sasuke waited until the pink-haired girl in the tub stilled, then he spoke softly in question. "Are you finished, Sakura?"

Frantically, Sakura shook her head, her wet, pink hair whipping about her shoulders, and moving against her back. She hadn't thought that Sasuke would come in just to ask her that. Maybe in case of emergency, but just to see if she was done?

The male shinobi just sighed at his teammate's response- Even in a crisis, girls took hours in the washroom. The sun was drifting right on the edge of the horizon now, threatening to disappear within the hour, and there were still things to be done, so why was Sakura taking so long?

Sasuke edged fully into the room, listening to the sound of the water splashing about as Sakura flailed slightly in response. He said nothing to halt her actions, his thoughts turned inward as he considered tearing away his own modesty, just as he had forced upon his teammate.

In an aggravated, and somewhat grumpy tone, the Uchiha made Sakura aware of his intentions. "I want to wash myself before the water gets cold, and the sun goes down."

This situation had only arisen due to time wearing ever thinner until sundown. Before that time, the fire would need to be put out, lest the two genin risked attracting every creature within range right to their precise location. But before they put out the fire, they both needed to wash up, to aid in disguising their human scent, and presently there was no time to warm more bathwater.

Predictably, the pink-haired girl shook her head in protest. Her cheeks were likely as flushed as her male partner's, but he chose to ignore the awkward feeling of the moment as he undressed himself, leaving his shed articles to lay in a pile on the floor.

Again, Sasuke sighed in frustration. "I don't like it either, but now I don't have any other choice. Look, I'll keep my back turned to you, and we just won't look at each other." These were the words that narrated the Uchiha's movements as he dipped one foot into the bathtub, then the other, and he sat down in the water, feeling it rise up from just above his hips to barely beneath his navel.

There was an expected silence between the two preteens as the male cupped his hands, and splashed the lukewarm water up to trail in tiny streams along his pale skin. No words would pass between the two, unless they were Sasuke's own, though he truly wished to avoid the one-sided conversation. He wanted to avoid speaking, and pretending that he could smooth the situation, but there was also a feeling of guilt that slowly mounted as the girl behind him shook, and the rippled water softly moved against Sasuke's back.

Sasuke lifted water that was cupped in the palms of his hands over his head to wet his hair and face, and he drowned himself in the sound of it rushing over his ears, and through his long bangs. He let damp palms press against his face, hiding him in the soothing darkness just long enough for him to talk himself into comforting the only friend he had left in the world.

He still had nothing to say. He glanced back, not looking over his shoulder so much as he looked to the side as he spoke up. "Are you finished with the soap?"

It was the first real movement out of Sakura since Sasuke came into the room, but she reached out to grab the bar-soap from the side of the tub, and she held it over her shoulder. With a slight bit of effort, the male was able to take the slippery item from her hand without looking at her.

"You brought the unscented kind with us, right?"

His question seemed almost obvious as he asked, but the girl at Sasuke's back still nodded her head to him, and he felt the movement from the other shinobi as she nodded, hearing the gentle rustle of her long hair brushing her skin.

The soap Sasuke had mentioned was something of a convenience that these two had over normal people, since they were shinobi. They naturally bathed with unscented soaps before going on missions (lest perfumed scents screw up an ambush, or make tracking a cakewalk for enemies), so it was normal to find such things in ninja villages in great supply. And, of course, minimizing the natural scent of being a living human was necessary in attracting less mindless cannibals to your doorstep.

But Sasuke was, in the end, just trying to talk to Sakura while he dealt with washing himself, hoping that it may calm her down. He lathered the soap in his hands and used it to wash the dirt from his skin, all while pondering the irony of the moment.

In a soft, and somehow uniquely sincere voice, the avenger decided to verbally acknowledge how strange this ordeal appeared. "It seems like that if things were a little different, you'd jump at this chance, otherwise."

Hearing Sasuke's soft words, for a moment Sakura's trembling slowed, but she still shook her head vehemently in response, denying her partner's claims. This was nothing like any hope or dream she ever had in mind. This was terrifying, and in its own distinctly cruel way, heart breaking.

"No?" The boy spoke, but paused, considering what could be on Sakura's mind while he scrubbed the feeling of being caked in blood and grime from his skin. "I'm not sure I believe that.."

Again, there was a pause. There was nothing for the girl to agree or disagree with, and so Sasuke was left to think up something further to elaborate upon. "...This is just embarrassing for you, I suppose.."

Sakura softly nodded her head, a bit more calm, though no less upset. Embarrassing hardly cracked the surface of what she was feeling. This alone was horrible, but it was just another cherry on top of the sundae of horror that her life had become. Some part of her wanted to cling to her friend and crush, knowing that he was the only one left to comfort her, but this was all too much.

In a whisper that came out much changed from his previous tone, the boy shinobi quietly, bleakly spoke up just loud enough for his friend to hear. "..I doubt anything will go as planned, with the world the way it is now... But regardless, I never intended for this to mean anything, Sakura. I'm just trying to survive, and so are you. That's why we have to tolerate our disappointments.."

Without another word, Sasuke turned on the tap, rinsing himself in a trickle of cold water, the only thing that was available, as there was no power in the building. Behind him, Sakura nodded her head in a soft, dejected manner, her quiet shivering beginning anew.

Sasuke, once finished, stepped from the tub, and wrapped his chilled frame in a towel that had been scavenged from one of the other apartments. Before he walked from the room, he gathered his clothes from the floor, and spoke a quick reminder to his friend who was still sitting in the tub. "Be sure to wash those cuts you got when you fell, and bandage them when you get out."

Again, the girl nodded as she heard the door open, then click shut.

::

The embers let out a harsh hiss as they were doused in water, a mixture of smoke and steam rising in violent twirls, just to crawl upward, and out the chimney pipe.

But this fire had to be killed completely, so that not even the tiniest trail of smoke still slithered away. The young shinobi boy made sure this was handled thoroughly, using an old curtain rod as a makeshift stoker to stir the water-soaked ashes into the splinters of unburned wood that could remain alight.

Night was finally setting in, the sun having vanished behind the mountains and forest on the horizon, though the soft, orange rays of twilight remained, turning the white-covered world the color of raging fire.

The air outside was growing icier, and clouds were beginning to roll in, bringing the promise of deeper snow for tomorrow. This, however, was not what had caused the young Uchiha's soft shaking.

The tremble was only apparent in the boy's hands, which was something of an accomplishment, since he was terrified on the inside, nervous of being in a new place during the dangerous night hours, and thinking back on the monster that had chased him in the forest. (He had taken extra care to barricade the door, and the window to the room, while still making escape from the window possible, and leaving room to look out.)

This anxiety was the very reason his body jolted in sudden fear as an immense rumble erupted from some place in the distance, accompanied by tremors of the ground, powerful enough to topple the boy from his crouching position to his bottom on the floor.

It was all so frightful and sudden, the pounding, shaking of the ground; The floors moaned in complaint at the movement, and dust shook down from the ceiling as tiny cracks formed above. From unknown places surrounding where the two genin were staying, this and that could be heard toppling, falling, and some things breaking. In the aftershock of the initial quake, it seemed the entire building may collapse, as other structures throughout town could be heard cracking, and toppling inward, like bones shattering to drop a great and heavy mass.

All grew silent for a second, and in this single moment, the boy Uchiha, feeling so frail and tiny, so confused and afraid, crawled to his knees, and backed himself up until he was practically plastered to the wall at his back. He hardly even noticed that there even was a wall, simply that something was there, halting him. His dark eyes darted about frantically, his mind running in circles as he tried to make sense of his own thoughts, finding nothing buzzing in his head, but static, just like a radio that wasn't locating a signal.

The bathroom door was yanked open so hard that it slammed against the wall directly behind it, and from the space, Sakura crawled, sitting in the doorway, her own eyes wide, and distantly fearful, just as much as Sasuke. The girl had finished her bath, and was hurrying to wash up some of their clothes, when the ground beneath began to shake.

The pair of genin locked eyes, though it served neither any good, both coming to understand that their counterpart was confused, and afraid, and had no good explanation for what was happening.

And all Sakura found that she could do was crawl in a rush with a crying squeal as the ground shook harshly all over again, her tiny body seeming to bounce upon the floor, leaving her knees bruised, and her wrists aching, though she paid no mind. She crawled over to Sasuke, and clung to him in panic, her entire frame wracking with fearful sobs that neither she nor Sasuke could even hear as a pitchy roar called out from somewhere beyond the forest.

This sound was like nothing either genin had ever heard before, or at least not that they could ever remember. It began in a moan, a growling, gravelly bass, before erupting into a ferocious shriek of anger and hatred. It was similar to those monsters, but without the absence of thought, no, this was something truly demonic. This was something that was consciously blood-thirsty, and much larger.

The Uchiha tightened his hold on his friend, grasping her in desperation, and fear, simply because her small frame was there, and his body reacted, clutching onto whatever it could to make itself feel more grounded as the entire room felt to shake back and forth, up and down.

Sasuke barely noticed until the world stilled slightly that his breath was coming in quick, terrified pants, which was making his head feel light, and blurring the world around him. He calmed himself as much as he could, breathing evenly, then he pushed Sakura away gently.

Every now and again, the ground would shake once more, though softer, and that noise, that horrible noise was still echoing loud and clear from beyond the forest. The male shinobi stamped down the fear in his heart enough to shuffle over to the window, and softly he pushed the drapes back ever so slightly.

Upon letting one black optic peer out from the safety of this shelter, a sight of horrible magnificence burned into his vision. His eyes widened as he found himself staring out past the forest that stretched in the direction of Konoha, and just beyond that, a vibrant light, the color of freshly spilt blood stretched up, a great pillar like hell fire that crawled endlessly upward, into the very heavens, burning all it touched as it foretold the arrival of something malevolent, freed from its imprisonment.

It didn't take much contemplation for the young male to figure out what had happened. His hands clutched against the wall to keep him upright, though they failed in doing so, and he fought to stay on his feet, dragging his nails down against the surface as he toppled to his knees, his back hunched, his head falling forward.

He was silent, and still as the ground shook again, though Sakura whimpered in the corner, curling in on herself, her arms wrapping over her head in defense.

One of the avenger's thin hands slid from the wall, to be splayed against his face, hiding what little his raven hair didn't curtain from view. He remained this way, his body tense until the trembling halted again.

In the moment of silence, Sakura managed to look up, her watery eyes looking that much more colored blue as the whites turned red from all her tears. They appeared visually like pools of water, leaking down her pale cheeks as she looked across the room at her teammate, silently questioning him as she whimpered, and her pinkish lips quivered.

Sasuke spoke only two words, enough to let Sakura known exactly what he had seen.

"..It's Naruto.."

The ground continued to shake and the room itself trembled, the violent tremors coming intermittently. Through the echoes of feral, beastly screams, the rumbling of the ground, and flocks of crows crying out as they took to the sky in order to fly to safety, Sakura let her voice be heard, if only as she wailed deep, and mournfully, knowing another friend had died in pain and all alone.

At the same time, Sasuke remained where he sat, uttering words of regret and contempt against his own palms, quietly, and unheard.

"..Goddamn it, Naruto.."

/

_I never thought they'd get me here. Not knowing you'd change from just one bite, I fought them all off just to hold you close and tight_

::

..tbc..

::

_Author's note: Psst- If you're reading this story, and you want me to update it REALLY often, you'd better go vote for it in the poll that you can find at the top of my user profile. Otherwise, another story may be selected to be updated most often, instead of this one. Also, please be sure to review. I haven't been hearing from the readers very often, and I'm feeling a bit discouraged. Show me some love, huh? =)  
_


	4. Chapter 4

::

::

_/..But does anyone notice? But does anyone care? And if I had the guts, to put this to your head; But would anything matter if your already dead? And should I be shocked now by the last thing you said. Before I pull this trigger, your eyes vacant and stained.. Does anyone notice? But does anyone care?../_

/

Neither of them were certain as to when the furious, wailing roars of what was surely the nine-tailed demon fox had ceased. It felt to go on for such an endless period, weakening after the first hour, thankfully, but still coming in unpredictable bursts, driving the two young genin into bouts of terrified anxiety each and every single time it started up once again.

'Is it coming closer?', they kept thinking. 'What if it comes here?'

Sakura and Sasuke laid beneath a pile of collected blankets that had been assembled on the floor near the fireplace, hoping to absorb whatever warmth remained after the fire was drowned. They clung helplessly to one another, completely impersonal, regarding each other as a sheer necessity for warmth and comfort during the Hell-zone that was the night hours.

Neither of them truly slept; the most they could hope for was rest, and even that seemed scarce. Laying beneath the blankets, shivering from cold and from fear that they may die at any moment, all they could do was shut their eyes, and attempt to rest, while listening to the growls, the hisses, and the groans of _those creatures_ outside.

It was the same each night, yet they never got used to it. (Who could get used to something like this?) Each night those things came out from hiding, instinctively hunting for any human who was still alive, and after they located a potential meal, (Neither genin had any clue how those creatures always managed to locate them) they went about clawing the walls and hoarding and searching noisily for any entrance, any way to get to what they wanted, and they didn't give up in this struggle until the morning hours chased them back into hiding.

When those hallowed morning hours came, at last, to assure the two young shinobi that they had indeed survived another night, it was always so much like a dream, as if the night had never been, and they were, perhaps, the first human beings waking up to the very first day in all of human existence. It was all a trick of their lonely hearts, a product of having their minds bathed in fear throughout the long, perilous, lightless hours; because when morning came, for the first few minutes, their human psyches were simply dry of whatever chemicals produced fear in their minds, offering a strange euphoric sensation that eventually dulled away, leaving them with a reminder that night would come anew. This, in turn, rekindled their urgency to begin preparations for that time of danger.

Sasuke was the first to rise, overlooking his abhorrence for the frigid feeling that wracked his frame upon crawling out from beneath the blankets. He also had to fight off his body's willingness to remain sleeping, rubbing at his eyes in aggravation with the hopes that his lids might feel a tad less heavy. (Back in Konoha, he rarely left his apartment, even during the day, which meant that he could nap more easily during the safe hours; now he was faced with the possibility of exhaustion, which he hadn't experienced as direly before.)

The Uchiha stalked, his footsteps as soundless as Death, over to the window to check and see if the ground was clear of those who were infected, if they had crawled back into their own safe havens for the day. Tentatively, his fingertips softly brushed the heavy curtain that had been hung over the window and he pushed it back just enough to allow him a tiny crack to peer out from; after searching every area that his dark eyes could scout from this particular window, he turned and nodded to his female teammate, assuring her that it was safe to start moving around.

Quiet Sakura did not move very much, despite having been just as awake as her male teammate. With small, frail hands fisted in the blankets, she held them tightly around herself as she sat up upon their makeshift bedding, watery eyes watching Sasuke for direction, knowing he was the one making the plans, and that he was the one who knew what they were meant to do each day.

The girl followed Sasuke's careful movements, observing him without a word as he gathered up his beige cloak, and placed it back over his shoulders. He was obviously ready to get moving, whether it was a foraging venture he meant for them to go out on, or that he planned for them to move to another location; again, Sakura was unaware.

Noticing that his kunoichi partner was very still, Sasuke turned his tired, dark eyes to her. She had this sad, lonely, confused expression, like her face had been twisted into a fearful, timid mask that could never be reformed. She had become some empty, blank slate of a person, her mind so broken that she was almost like a dog now, unable to think for herself; how long would this last until she just broke down beyond repair?

Sasuke couldn't be cross at her, though his own inward musings had become dark and angry as of late, his expectations from life bitterly cynical. (It had a lot to do with lack of sleep, as well as his past.) He couldn't allow his grouchy edge to show, though, because.. He knew how she was feeling right now; he sympathized.

With a sigh, the young avenger sauntered back over to the window, speaking in a soft voice as he went. "Sakura.. You can get the cans out of our bags and start opening them. We should eat before we go anywhere.."

The young male was dutiful, ready to be on the move again, already more experienced in traveling alongside the threat of infected creatures that were once human. It was not confidence that was driving him, however, but instead some distant inkling that this journey had a true destination; he felt as if he would end up somewhere that he could put this nightmare behind him and he wanted to waste as little time as possible in getting there.

But Sasuke didn't bother considering where he thought he would find himself at the end of this all, because that would boost his hopes far too high, and he didn't want to delude himself. He did what he could to keep himself strong, and that consisted of fighting for survival in any way he could; it was what he was meant to be good at, just as _Niisan_ intended. (It made Sasuke wonder if maybe Itachi had _known_, all along.)

These thoughts riddled the boy's mind as he pushed back all of his home-made locks, making escape through the window possible, now that it was daylight. (He had affixed boards over the window so that they were loose enough to rotate at one end; then, at the other end he created 'latches' out of bent nails that could be twisted out of the way. It wasn't the best system, but it was better than nothing.) He carefully opened up the only means that he and Sakura had of getting out of the room, lifting the glass pane, and he cautiously poked his head out just enough to for him to glance around once more, then he vanished out, up the wall to the rooftop in order to gather some firewood.

As Sasuke disappeared from sight, Sakura nervously wrung her hands for a moment, almost unable to endure the strain of being left alone. The girl fought with herself, shaking her head, trying to erase the image of her parents being eaten alive and the gruesome trickery of her imagination that forced her to believe that the same would happen to Sasuke.

The more the pink-haired young girl stressed herself out, the more a familiar stabbing sensation returned to her lower abdomen, and she clutched at her belly momentarily, taking a breath to settle herself.

Crawling with some degree of stealthy quietude, Sakura made her way from the semi-warmth of the blankets, over to the corner where she and her teammate had left their backpacks and their pouches. Her tiny, trembling hand stretched out as she sat on her knees on the floor, fingertips brushing the strap of her bag just enough for her to pull it closer. She then unfastened the buckle that kept the top-flap closed, and she delved her hand into the pack to draw out the last of their food supplies. (Honestly, it seemed like a lot of food, but it was always consumed so quickly. In some odd way, it made Sakura think back and appreciate how much her parents had done for her, and how she never got a chance to thank them or tell them how much she loved them before they died.)

The sting of tears began to well up in the girl's eyes, almost as if they hardly ever managed to stop; Lately, she tried to tell herself that she was wasting precious hydration with all of her weeping and she tried to stifle her urge to cry. With hasty bitterness, the kunoichi desperately attempted to convert her sadness to anger, thinking it might serve her better, and she tore the cans of food from the bag, though she set them all down carefully, not making too much noise.

She had drawn out two small cans of miso flavored saba*, a large can of stewed tomatoes, a large can of diced mango, and a small can of coconut milk; when she found her fingers set against an object in nosily crinkling plastic-wrapping, however, she drew the object out, just to be given yet another opportunity to lose control of her unsteadied emotions.

Gazing down at the flat, hard square of dry, instant noodles, wrapped in yellow and white plastic with colorful designs and writing, she couldn't help but let herself curl forward as a sob shook her slight frame.

The young avenger came swooping back through the window at just this moment, finding Sakura hunched over, and weeping. Without knowing what was wrong, or even what could have potentially happened, he dropped his haul of firewood to the floor and made his way over to crouch near his kunoichi teammate.

"Sakura?", the preteen Uchiha asked, his voice steady, but concerned.

To her teammate's worry, the girl sniffled, wiping her eyes, and shaking her head, clearly not wanting Sasuke to assume anything terribly dire had happened, and as well, she felt that her blubbering was becoming burdensome to her friend, even if it was all understandable; she was left wondering where Sasuke's iron resolute was coming from. How did he seem so strong, even now?

The girl's pink head lifted, her hair moving back away from her face, though stray strands stuck to her tear-stained cheeks, clinging to the cool, wet surface. She still gave her head a shake, denying that anything was wrong, but the package of instant ramen that she clutched in her hands made the reason for her mourning perfectly clear.

One hand laid itself gingerly against the young girl's shoulder, reassuring her, comforting her while the other hand reached out to delicately remove the plastic-wrapped package from her open palms, and Sasuke took a moment to stare down at the item himself.

Through his stubborn resistance, his facade of endless strength, the surface of his charcoal eyes glassed over, mournfully, despite himself. The boy hardly allowed himself a moment's reminiscence, not even wanting to think back to the times of a _complete_ team seven. He didn't want to think of his friend, whom he left to suffer and die alone.

Instead, Sasuke resigned himself to tears of bitterness, their hot, stinging bite against his cold cheeks just a reflection of all the spiteful emotions captured within. His thoughts were, 'Goddamn that idiot, Naruto, goddamn him. Goddamn him for being so stupid, for getting himself killed, Goddamn him, and everything else!'

(But, at least for Naruto, the pain had ended. For Sasuke and Sakura, it had only just begun.)

In a huff, Sasuke began to gather the cans, carrying what he could over to the blankets, where they would sit and eat. The boy Uchiha left it to Sakura to gather up the can opener and their utensils, choosing now to toss the firewood he had gathered into the fireplace, lighting it up easily enough with a low-strength Katon jutsu. (They were so lucky that Sasuke was efficient at Fire-style.)

Just as she had been asked before, after crawling over, Sakura sat down upon the blankets, and quietly began opening the cans of food they would be sharing for breakfast. Sasuke came to sit at her side, producing the map from his pocket, and he looked over it while he waited.

"If you don't mind," the boy began, "I think it would be in our interest to venture slightly off-course, to the abandoned city. I'd like to know if Neko-Baasan is still alive; she surely has plenty of supplies that we could use."

The girl just nodded her head to her teammate as she placed a can of Miso-flavored saba within reach for him. As he placed the map aside, however, Sasuke's line of sight landed on the package of instant ramen, again, before anything else.

With a sigh, he grabbed up the package, and tore it open, feeling that by facing the stupidly haunting food-item, he could remove some of its power to depress the two remaining members of team seven. He pulled the block of dry noodles from the package, placing them on top of the plastic wrapping before he crushed them to bits with his hand. The sudden, resounding crunch drew a nervous fidget out of Sakura, but Sasuke pretended not to notice as he opened up the flavor-packet that came with the noodles, and dumped the powder overtop. (This had been Naruto's method of eating noodles during his final days, as he had no access to boiling water in which to cook them. It was fine; this way, they were very similar to the salty, crunchy snacks that people ate normally, so it made no difference.)

"Naruto would want us to remember him..and.." The avenger started to speak up, hoping to lift his female partner's spirits; he had no idea what he really wanted to get at, however. Because of this, he was almost unable to think of anything truly enlightening, or worthy of their knucklehead friend, and considered just leaving it at this.

Then, the rest came to him,"..there was nothing sad about how he lived. Annoying, half of the time, but not sad.. So, he wouldn't want us to be sad when we think of him."

Sasuke turned his pensive visage in his partner's direction, catching a momentary smile as it tugged gently at her pink lips. In turn, he smiled softly, then quietly carried on with eating the meal that was meant to get him through the day.

::

The snow beneath their feet felt so hardened that they hardly had to put much effort into spreading their chakra atop the frozen surface; It was so crisp, crunching into subtle depressions under their weight.

The duo of young genin had yet to leave town- They (Sasuke) had decided to go on a short foraging venture, hoping to find an emergency supply of food. Even if they had now accustomed themselves to consuming only one meal a day, with the exception of snacking on perishable items they came across, the feel of tomorrow's breakfast in their bags was a comfort, despite it being extra weight on their shoulders.

But the more safe selection of buildings that _should have _had some stock of supplies were all looted clean, and neither Sasuke nor Sakura dared to set foot in any structure that could potentially be housing the infected as they hid from the sunlight. So, after a few fruitless scavenges, the pair decided to head back to the shelter in order to gather their things. The Uchiha led the way back, with Sakura following directly behind him, tracing his steps, practically bumping his heels.

For all the care she placed into -not- scuffing her teammate's heel while sticking closely behind him, Sakura did eventually end up colliding softly with Sasuke's back when the boy stopped suddenly, standing completely motionless, just like a timid animal that had caught the scent of a hunter.

The kunoichi decidedly remained plastered to her only company, nervous at whatever it was that had grabbed Sasuke's attention so abruptly. He gestured for her to remain quiet and still, which she acted out expertly, glancing around for any sign of a threat.

Then, they were both allowed to hear the very noise that had caused the alert- Footsteps. These sounded like careful, steady crunches in the snow, the kind that came from someone walking with discreet forethought concerning what might come of hasty actions; that notion did not comfort the duo enough for them to remain standing out in the open, however.

Quickly, and quietly, the two shinobi ducked behind the nearest corner-wall, peeking out with caution as they waited for someone else to come into visual.

After waiting a few minutes, remaining as patient as possible, since other people would surely be as keenly alert as they were, themselves, two figures stalked out into the street that Sasuke and Sakura had vacated previously.

These two figures were definitely -people-, and they walked normally, instead of shambling or stalking about like some rabid ape. They weren't dressed in normal shinobi attire, nor in any of the regional styles of neighboring ninja villages, and they definitely weren't wearing headbands. (Not that Sasuke or Sakura were, either.)

The two people, both male in appearance, were dressed simply in heavy, hooded coats of the exact same dark color, which stuck out most evidently against the white blanket that covered everything else in sight. (This is what made them so utterly obvious as they rounded the corner; at least the beige of the two genins' cloaks were a little more subtle.)

Sasuke watched, just barely looking around the corner to observe the two other people; They, too, were observant and keeping their wits about them. The two strangers made it almost exactly to where Sasuke and Sakura had been standing, noticed the soft indent of footprints, then traced the path with their eyes to where Sasuke was perched, spying on them.

Clasping Sakura's hand tightly, the teen stepped from behind the wall, further revealing himself, hoping these other people (who seemed to just be civilians of non-shinobi villages) did not see him as an immediate threat. Both pairs of uninfected wanderers showed one another wariness, taking a moment to size each other up, and determine that there was no threat; this was Sasuke's range of thinking, anyway. Then, after letting them see that he meant no harm, he began to slowly approach.

When he came within a distance that was maybe double arm's reach, the taller of the other two called out for him to stop, and come no closer; the Uchiha obeyed, carefully respecting the boundaries of these people, acknowledging that those same boundaries were also in his best interest.

"Have either of you been bitten?" The taller male asked.

"No." Sasuke answered in a clear, reserved tone.

"Have you been near _them_? Exposed to _them_ in any way?" The taller male (Who seemed to be another teenager, if the genin had to guess.)

"Why?" The Uchiha asked, honestly curious as to their answer. This questioning, however, caused both of the other two boys to take a couple of steps back.

Still, an answer was granted. "We heard that the virus can be spread by breath, and not just by a bite."

Sasuke took in the explanation, grateful for it, though he remained impassive; he hadn't been previously aware of this information, and he wondered if it was the reason that these boys had their faces covered with scarves, or was it just the weather? He glanced back at Sakura, connecting eyes with her, judging from her expression that she had heard what they had said and was obviously thinking back on the three days they spent in the same bed with Naruto as he transformed.

Surely, though, with how immediate the symptoms kicked in, they would already know if they had caught the illness. Sasuke still decided on discretion. "No, we haven't been exposed."

(He thought, for a moment, maybe these two were wrong? They only _heard_ that, so maybe it wasn't true? Or maybe.. It was true in _some_ cases, but not all?)

Now, the shorter of the two strangers posed a question. "Have the two of you got any extra food?"

Sasuke shook his head, answering, "We are out of food; we had been searching for supplies, but there isn't anything here."

"The two of you are shinobi.." The taller of the duo piped up, glancing over at his friend, then back at Sasuke and Sakura. "A lot of shinobi already came through here from Konoha. We heard the leaders and all of the non-shinobi civilians were evacuated; They gave up on saving the city and took all of the high-ranking soldiers they could gather out to who-knows-where. I'm guessing the strongest ninjas were gathered to defend everybody else, so they just left all the genin behind, huh?"

The duo kind of chuckled, seeming to laugh at this proposed unfortunate circumstance as they looked at the two genin: Evidence that the rumors were true, apparently. Sasuke didn't find it very amusing, playing through this concept in his mind, and thinking of Kakashi-sensei abandoning team seven. It didn't seem possible, but then again.. Shinobi put their emotions aside and do their duties. They do what is most important, no matter the cost.

"Hey, don't get all pissed about it." The taller guy spoke, now trying to console. Sasuke lifted his dark eyes back to this person's mostly-covered face, displaying his lack of amusement in sheer apathy.

"Why don't the two of you come with us? We could use a pair of ninjas..", The taller of the two strangers continued, "We're headed toward Suna; we heard that their village wasn't hit as hard, because of their climate. It's like the cold weather has something to do with the disease, but a desert city is a bit more difficult to freeze.."

"No thanks.." Sasuke divulged his answer without even needing to think. "We're not going to follow the two of you so you can hurl us at opposition in order to keep yourselves safe.."

"You're getting the wrong idea-", the taller of the two piped up, his tone sharpened, though he didn't dare raise his voice. "We just thought it would be okay, since the two of you are ninjas and you can defend yourselves, instead of just being baggage. With capable people, there's more safety and strength in numbers."

"That's only if we can trust the people we're with." In an insistent tone, Sasuke now made to close this conversation. He didn't like these two. "..and we don't know the two of you."

The male who was doing all of the speaking paused, muttering a soft, 'well then,' under his breath as he crossed his arms, his brow setting into a firm wrinkle of annoyance. This was the prelude to the larger, older male taking a sudden, unexpected swing at Sasuke, which the young Uchiha easily blocked, before jumping back and shifting himself into a defensive fighting position.

Sakura, too, took a sharp leap backward, away from the opposing boys. She thought to do exactly as her teammate had, taking a defensive stance, though she was tense and jittery, which was all easily visible from her outward appearance. The kunoichi was certain that a tussle would draw unwanted attention, and she nervously glanced over her shoulder, expecting one of those _things_ to come at her at any moment.

"Don't screw with me.." The Uchiha angrily growled in a soft, but threateningly vicious tone. "I'd hate to kill uninfected civilians."

Sakura, amidst her fidgeting and looking about at every second, turned her aqua-green eyes to Sasuke, almost frightened at how _serious_ he sounded. They might have been shinobi, but they had never _killed_ anyone.

The two strangers, both older and taller than Sakura and Sasuke, just laughed lowly and quietly at Sasuke's threats as they suddenly produced scavenged kunai, glaring with just as much intent as Sasuke was, himself.

"Please!" The larger of the two called out, amused. "We know the two of you are just wussy-genin. You've never done anything but bullshit-chores, so stop acting all badass!"

The male speaking took a few confident steps toward Sasuke, his voice droning all the way, "I tried to be nice to you, so don't blame me for this! You just had to be stubborn, so now we have to do this the hard way."

As the bigger of the two strangers closed the distance between himself and Sasuke, his friend suddenly bolted toward Sakura, and leapt into the air, flipping and landing on his feet behind her.

This sudden movement drew Sasuke's eyes away from the male challenging him, his inky optics worriedly turning to Sakura as she was grabbed up from behind, the other boy clutching at her chest with grimy hands to keep her still while he threatened the flesh of her delicate neck with a kunai. His lips pressed to the shell of her ear, whispering something that Sasuke couldn't make out over the sound of the girl crying out in panic.

Then, Sasuke was forcibly removed from this visual by a kick that was aimed squarely at his chest, meeting its target in the boy's moment of distraction. The young Uchiha's back smacked the ground with a crunch of snow that echoed loudly in his ears as the icy chill penetrated his clothes, down into the flesh of his back, all the way to his spine.

He laid in the snow for only a few seconds, drawing his legs inward before jolting them forward, using the force to propel himself back upright; he was coughing, winded, but his eyes bled into a red stare that was maybe not fully matured, but decent enough to be an immense threat to these non-shinobi teens. Those fiery, ruby eyes glinted with fury and a very sudden willingness to kill, if necessary.

"Just give up!", The teen facing off against the young Uchiha demanded. "Give up, and I'll leave you alive. The girl is coming with us, whether you like it or not."

"Coward," the Uchiha spat.(The bastard had to wait until Sasuke wasn't looking to attempt anything. It was a sure sign that he just acted like he knew how to fight.) His eyes flickered over to Sakura for a single, brief moment, then back to the boy before him; for now, his female teammate was safe, as they didn't intend to kill her. (They couldn't make use of her, if she was dead, after all.)

Just as before, the larger male made another swing at Sasuke, this time brandishing a kunai, openly attempting to kill Sasuke, since the younger male showed no sign of giving up. But the older teen wielded the edged weapon like some street-fighter handled a pocket knife, his movements predictable and clumsy.

The Uchiha moved with caution, not even wanting to risk slight injury, knowing that the scent of blood would attract those things in greater numbers. He easily dodged the older male's attempted slices and jabs, eventually spying an opening; The young Uchiha grasped the other male by the arm, yanking his body forward as he twirled into a kick meant to strike the older male in his head, knocking him unconscious.

Sasuke's kick was blocked, however, the older male's other hand capturing the Uchiha by the leg, though the younger male arched backward, and sprang back up to his feet, easily escaping the other male's grip.

Before either of the two engaging boys could attack one another again, their fight was interrupted by the sound of a blade being sharply embedded in a house of flesh, chorused by a disgusting and terrified gurgle. They both turned immediately, in panic, to the struggle between their partners, witnessing the gruesome image of the frail girl, still clutched in the larger male's tight grasp, with one hand drawn up to grasp the sharpened blade at her neck, sacrificing the palm of her hand, as it clearly was gushing with blood that dripped down from beneath her glove. Then, her other hand had miraculously drawn her own kunai from the pouch hidden beneath her obscuring cloak, and she had plunged it, in desperation, into whatever flesh was available just over her shoulder; in this case, it was the other boy's neck.

Though his arms still wound around Sakura tightly, his muscles seizing, the teen's eyes were wide-open to the point that they seemed as though they might pop right out of his skull, and just as much so, his mouth was gaping, blood steadily oozing from his lips.

With a grunt, Sakura yanked her kunai back with effort, the wound sucking at the intruding blade to prevent it from leaving, causing a slick but sharp 'pop' to echo off the surrounding buildings.

Once the blade was forced from the pleasant embrace of the boy's flesh, Sasuke's perceptive sharingan absorbed the subsequent actions in such brutally heavy detail as he gaped; The pulsing squirt of blood that erupted from the pouring wound, dampening and staining Sakura's shoulder as she jabbed her elbow back into the body that was restricting her, freeing herself from his dying clutches. The look on her face; it was not anger or fear, but merely a deep understanding and acceptance of the price of her own survival. A certain craze glimmered in the deepest depths the girl's eyes, the value of human life suddenly lost to her, the threat to her own life becoming so severe that it was no longer a human being that was the cause. The male holding onto her was just a _thing_, now, in her eyes; a _thing_ that was threatening her, and a _thing_ that she had no qualms about destroying.

Only as the bleeding, dying male fell onto his back in the snow, clutching at his neck, did all the panic, and sorrow, and anger, and hatred light itself ablaze in Sakura's heart, driving her to all new levels of destructive action as her mind began to crumble beneath the weight of it all. She threw herself down on her knees before the male that had been holding her hostage, her hands moving without thought, burying the kunai inside the writhing body again and again and again, splattering blood messily about herself with each thrust of the blade.

The taller of the two strangers, of course, was completely aghast at what he was seeing. (It all happened so quickly, and was obviously not expected from 'lowly genin'.) Sasuke made the decision, in an instant, to follow Sakura's merciless example, also making certain to give the taller male a taste of his own bitter medicine by striking while he wasn't paying attention. The Uchiha wove a flurry of handseals, focusing his chakra in his chest before unleashing a consuming fire-style attack that engulfed the other male, producing a sizzle of searing flesh and melting snow, along with a short-lived, but undeniably blood-chilling shriek of agony.

When Sasuke was certain that the other male was finished, looking down at him to observe his charred body as it spewed smoke from its blackened surface that mixed with the steam of evaporated snow, the Uchiha quickly turned to face Sakura instead. The smell of burning flesh instantly had his stomach wanting to turn, and he covered his face as he walked over to Sakura.

"Sakura.." The avenger called out softly, taking caution, himself, just in case his female teammate hadn't recovered from her crazed state of mind.

The girl turned her glassy, aqua-green optics slowly up to meet Sasuke's own, the surface glazed and the depths utterly vacant.

Sasuke helped Sakura to her feet, practically cringing at how utterly covered she was in blood.

"Sakura.." Again, Sasuke spoke her name, his tone delicate, until he was sure that he had her attention. "Sakura, go back to the shelter, and wash yourself off as well as you can. Then, gather your things and wait for me. Wait by the fire, and warm yourself up until I get there.."

Normally, it seemed the girl would cast that worried, helpless stare up at her male partner, wanting to know why he wasn't coming immediately. However, this time, she only gazed blankly, emotionlessly forward, nodding her head, then she took off in the direction she was instructed to go.

Sasuke watched his partner's back as she faded into the distance, only turning away once she was completely out of sight. Then, the young Uchiha turned to stare down at the corpse that his female teammate had left strewn apart in the surrounding snow, the white blanket dyed a reeking carmine. Indeed, the overpowering, metallic scent of blood was almost as sickening as the smoky smell of human flesh set ablaze, and Sasuke raised one arm to bury his nose in the crook of his elbow-joint, his stomach churning painfully again to the point that he could feel stomach acid burning the back of his throat.

Right now, though, Sasuke's mind was in a very dark, desperate place. Right now, he would do almost anything to keep himself and Sakura alive, and he was now allowing himself a terribly morbid foresight.

His plans were to visit the abandoned city, in the hopes that Neko-Baasan could offer supplies and shelter. But, Sasuke wasn't so certain that an elderly lady, shinobi or otherwise, and a young girl, alone, could survive, even with the help of their shinobi cats.

This was all assumption, but if Sasuke had to guess, he would imagine that only the Neko-shinobi and other cats remained thriving there. This begged one immensely important question; Would a hoard of starving, shinobi-cats be any less dangerous than a hoard of infected humans?

There would be plenty of supplies there, but the only way they could get what they needed from the neko-shinobi would be to offer them food. Human food wouldn't cut it, even if Sasuke had any; no, the cats were carnivores, and would have to be offered enough meat to appease them, if only to make the two genin come across as _slightly less_ tasty.

There was a chance that Sasuke could come upon some fish, and other game-animals in the plentiful forests of Konoha, but in the off-chance that he didn't get his hands on anything impressive, he really couldn't afford to -not- get the supplies he needed from the abandoned city, and that meant he had to jump at any opportune chance to gather offerings for the Neko-shinobi.

This is when his eyes wandered back down to the gored body at his feet; Did it really matter if he cut the guy up some more? His body would likely be stripped clean after nightfall, so how did it make any difference whether Sasuke did it or _they_ did?

Swallowing, the young Uchiha lowered himself to his knees beside the dead male. One hand grasped for the forgotten kunai that had toppled from the fallen teen's hand and the preteen eyed the corpse, still unsure what he should even do. (It came to remind him, again, of his brother; Itachi, who had once been a captain in ANBU, had probably dealt assassinations, which required the assassin to properly dismantle and dispose of the body afterward.)

Sasuke wished he could grasp just the smallest amount of his traitorous brother's sick, straight-faced resolve. With a disgusted cough, the Uchiha stood, and used his foot to roll the dead male onto his front. He reached down, clutching the body's arms by the wrists, and he gave them a backward yank, hearing the crunch of the joints snapping out of place.

Turning his head to take a gulp of fresh air, free of the fragrance of gore, Sasuke next crouched down again, tightening his fingers around the handle of the kunai as he began to slice the flesh of the body's shoulders, detaching the arms from the torso of the corpse. Lastly, in order to slightly 'de-humanize' the disembodied limbs, the young Uchiha made to saw through the bones at the wrists, removing the ghastly clawed formation that the appendages had set in upon death.

Finally, the Uchiha wrapped what he would simply regard as 'hunks of meat' in some metallic wire that he had stashed in the pouch beneath his cloak, and hurriedly, he started back toward the shelter, which wasn't terribly distant, dragging his prize behind him in the snow, hoping to touch it as little as possible, while simultaneously allowing the blood to let.

::

The silent kunoichi was waiting for her partner, now back at the room where they had stayed the night.

She had frantically scrubbed the blood from her face, having difficulty after almost forgetting the deep gash in the palm of her left hand. Once she realized how far the blade had ventured into her skin, however, it began to grow incredibly sore, and she treated it with antiseptic, then bandaged it as quickly as possible, hoping that a wad of gauze beneath the bandages would absorb the blood.

The most she could do to soak the blood out of her gloves and cloak was to press a towel against the fabric in order to sop it up. Knowingly, if she got her clothes very wet, then they would fail to protect her from the weather, acting against her instead. She resigned herself, then, to wait until they reached another place of shelter to wash the stained articles.

With that all finished, she had strapped her luggage to her back and perched beside the crackling fire, waiting for Sasuke. She was shivering from use of the cold tap water, the pink locks nearest to her face clinging to her chapped skin, all wet and sticking together. And as much as she wanted to enjoy the heat coming from the flickering flame, she had already discovered that the waves of hot air burned against her skin, which had become very sensitive from exposure to the cold, windy environment outside.

Already worried that Sasuke seemed to be taking much too long in doing whatever mysterious task he had set to work on, the pink-haired young girl moved over to the window, sighing as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. For whatever shred of comfort that it now offered her, her tiny hand moved to the pouch beneath her cloak, and her fingers tightened themselves around the handle of the very kunai she had used to _kill_ somebody with, not even an hour ago.

(With Sasuke's presence suddenly missing, all Sakura had to ease her fears was the shiny, sharpened, silver bit of weaponry that fit so perfectly in the palm of her hand.)

As she stood at the window, she was suddenly startled when a hand landed unexpectedly upon the ledge just outside the breakable pane; At first she was engulfed in a jolt of panic, but it only lasted for the smallest sliver of a second. She easily realized that the gloved appendage belonged to her male teammate, even if it was covered in blood. (He must have been climbing up the wall when she came over to the window, which was why she didn't see him approach.)

But wait- Why were his hands covered in blood? He hadn't drawn any blood, so far as she knew.

There was no time for her to consider the passing curiosity. Her focus was placed solely upon opening the window to allow Sasuke to climb within. The young male genin slid himself inside, but remained perched in the rectangular opening, with his boots flat against the floor.

The two genin locked eyes- Without words, Sakura was openly asking Sasuke where he had been and what happened. The girl's expression portrayed this questioning with ease, her delicate pink brows drawing toward each other, wrinkling the skin just between.

Sasuke's countenance, for all its blankness, offered an equally silent answer, a tremble of disgust buried in the black ink-pools of his eyes, though totally apparent. This was his way of saying, 'don't worry about it', or, 'you don't want to know.'

"Are you ready?", the Uchiha posed this question, instead. His tone's firmness hid the shake in his voice well enough, but his impatience betrayed his nervousness; he longed to put this town behind himself, as well.

The kunoichi simply nodded her head, still not speaking a single word as she watched Sasuke come out of the window, and into the room, taking a moment to wash his hands and sop the blood from his gloves. Then, the Uchiha gathered his own things onto his back, and for reasons unknown to the pink-haired girl, he also grabbed up one of the blankets from the floor, as if to carry it with him.

And _again_, Sakura gave her partner a confused, questioning stare, which _again_, went unanswered. Sasuke chose to shake his head, denying her any explanation, then he crawled out the window, as if in some dire rush. Just assuming that this meant he was ready to go, Sakura followed after him, straying a bit behind since her pace was nonchalant, while Sasuke's was hurried.

When the female genin reached the ground, she turned to find Sasuke crouched over a mysterious, tightly-bound package he had created with the blanket and a length of metal wire, which he typically carried around. She was immediately concerned with what this could be, but she didn't bother casting her confused expressions in Sasuke's direction this time, because he had already raised his own eyes to her, a graveness visible, even from beneath the boy's cobalt bangs, which fell messily into his face.

Sasuke came to a stand after making sure that the bound-up package was entirely secure. With preparations now complete, the two Konoha shinobi began off toward the Northern gate of the small town, a path in this direction planned for their travels. These travels were disrupted, however, when the soft crunch of snow met their ears for a second time.

The first run-in with other people had been a rather bothersome experience for both shinobi, so this time the duo drew their weapons without hesitation, the two teammates on the exact wavelength, not even requiring verbal communication.

They were grateful, albeit, curious, when they located the source of the crunching footfalls. It was not a human, nor an infected creature, and it was making only minimal attempts at being subtle in its inspection of the two genin, hoping to be noticed, while cautious, just the same.

Crouched beneath a patch of bared shrubbery was a large, furry creature, his coat only off from the color of the snow by the minimal degree. His thick fur hung in wet knots along his back and his sides, though his fluffy undercoat was dense, and looked untouched by the wetness of the freezing precipitation, perhaps even incredibly warm. It added a greater mass to his large size, and he was quite sizable, even for a dog.

The one detail that made spotting the canine most easy was that he seemed have been injured slightly, his right ear torn so that it now formed a jagged point, which was matted with fur and dried blood. (He had obviously gotten into some trouble.)

He waited modestly beneath the bush, looking as if he were analyzing the humans that stood within his visual range, his black nose lifted to the wind, carefully taking in the scent of these two genin, recognizing them as not only -living- humans, but also that they smelled of sweet, familiar Konoha.

Then, the dog, after deciding that he thought these humans could be trusted, pressed his ears back in a submissive gesture, letting his long, furry tail wag softly in the snow.

Sasuke tucked his kunai away, not only assuming that there was little to fear from a silly dog, but he also knew this particular canine. "..That's Kiba's dog."

The Uchiha was not at all fond of dogs, his entire clan more aptly familiar with cats; they just suited the aloof nature of the Uchiha clan. But, for all of his disliking of the species, Sasuke could not deny that the loyalty of dogs persisted over that of cats in a situation like this. Cats would rather fend for themselves, whereas a dog stuck by its master.

And, of course, this dog was a semi-trained nin-dog, and could likely behave himself enough to be trusted, even helpful. Seeing no problem with welcoming the large canine onto the team, Sasuke whistled and gently called the dog's name to see if he would come. (If it didn't work out, they could always leave the mutt behind, as harsh as it sounded.)

With slow, slinking movements, keeping his ears raised attentively for any irregular noise, Akamaru skulked from his 'hiding' place beneath the bushes and began over toward the two genin. He stopped again, just a few meters before he reached them, lifting his nose to closely examine their scent, then he finally closed the distance, wagging his tail slowly all the while. (He seemed to trust them, though he also seemed to find something 'off' about their smell, something strange.)

"He seems very alert..", the Uchiha mentioned to his silent partner, "..I'm sure he could hear and smell those creatures, or any other threat, much sooner than us. It would be good to keep him with us, for those reasons."

Glancing back to see Sakura's reaction, Sasuke watched as the kunoichi nodded her head, and unstrapped her backpack, pulling out some medical supplies. She approached the giant dog, letting him give her a sniff before she gave her caring attention to his torn ear; it wasn't bleeding anymore, but it looked terribly painful, more than half of it missing. The girl rubbed antiseptic along the edge, determinedly making sure it penetrated the matted fur, and though the furry hound gave his head an irritated shake, Sakura managed to bandage his ear.

The avenger talked aloud as Sakura took care of first aid for the dog, not really speaking directly to his teammate since he knew she wouldn't respond. "I wonder if it was him following us in the forest when we left Konoha..?"

Clearly listening, Sakura shrugged.

Next the boy came to crouch beside his female partner and he looked the white dog right in the eye as he posed a question. (He remembered Akamaru understanding Kiba, and Kiba also understanding the dog's responses, so that meant that Akamaru knew what people were saying, right?) "Where is Kiba?"

The question had an instant effect; Just upon mentioning the name of Akamaru's master, the large dog laid down on his belly in the snow, whining pitifully with his ears pressed back in what was, assumably, sadness. This was followed by some rather anxious panting, Akamaru's forlorn whines coming out nonstop with each frantic breath.

Nodding his head in understanding, the preteen male struck a solemn tone as he spoke again, patting the dog on the head sympathetically. "..I honestly expected that."

:: ::

Trekking slowly along, moving about the border that divided Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni, the lone group had yet to even reach the Port City of Fire Country; the reason for this was the fault of the civilians among the group. Untrained in the shinobi arts, the two men took clumsy footsteps, their legs dipping down into the snow, sinking to their knees.

The wind had picked up now, only a minuscule distance separating them from the cold, salty air of the open ocean. It was like a raging torrent, the flat landmass doing nothing to break up the immense pressure of the icy, biting gusts, and for the men who already walked on unsteady feet, the sheer force was almost enough to knock them over.

Because of this slowness, the massive man up front grumbled beneath his mask, attempting to aid his non-shinobi charges by delving a traceable pathway through the snow with his immense, bulky sword. He was honestly wishing that his partner hadn't sent him off with this needless responsibility; these people slowed him down and forced him to waste energy on helping them.

All either of the two men following the masked shinobi could do was ignore their leader's grouchiness, and try to be less burdensome. The trouble with that, now, was that the older man, Masuda, was weighed down with the task of carrying his young daughter.

But, Arisu would freeze to death in this weather! The snow came up past her tiny waist, and expecting her to walk in the impossible slush was completely beyond discussion. So, Masuda kept his arms tightly around his bundled up Arisu, enduring the weight of her body in his arms as he pressed himself forward.

It seemed, though, that every five minutes, the heartless masked shinobi was glancing back in displeasure, wishing that these pathetic wastes of time would at least pretend that they knew their lives were all on the line, and hurry up. It got to the point that he was so bothered, he threatened to force Masuda to leave his daughter behind.

Masuda said nothing in retort, just trying with all of his might to go faster, unable to feel his frozen feet as they disappeared beneath the snow. Arisu was shivering in his arms, even after being wrapped in an extra blanket, and she sniffled at every other second, worrying the older man that she would become ill from the cold. Even though Masuda was a doctor, and could treat her, he knew the man in the mask would almost certainly insist on dumping her off somewhere if she appeared unhealthy. Bitterly, Masuda grit his teeth, stumbling about in his attempts to rush.

Finally, Kano looked back at the man he knew as a father-figure, having long noticed the struggle, but also aware that Masuda wasn't the type to place burdens on the shoulders of others; for this reason, he had hesitated to offer his help.

"Let me carry Arisu." Kano spoke plainly, the tall, muscular man stopping in his tracks so to address the older male.

The young girl knew Kano very well; he was Kano-ojisan to her. She was as comfortable with him as she was with her father, but even so, Masuda refused the offer at first. It wasn't that he didn't need or want Kano's help, or that he was too prideful to admit that he needed a break, but.. He was also carrying the weight of his guilty conscious. He had failed Kano in an unforgivable way, and was too ashamed to allow Kano to help him.

In the end, the burly man forced his offer on his older companion, not allowing Masuda to pass him, and he insistently took Arisu from Masuda's arms.

"Why..", the older man began as he started walking forlornly at Kano's side, his voice so weak at first that it was impossible to hear over the howling wind. "Why are you still so determined to help me? ...after I let Ringoshi be killed."

"Stop." The taller, but younger male spoke in a stern tone to his guilty father-figure. Not only was he not in a good state of mind for this discussion, he also acknowledged that it wasn't the best time for it either. "What happened to my brother was no one's fault.. but his own. The only thing I can do now is protect the ones who are still with me."

The old doctor fell silent, his head hanging low as he was dismissed by the younger man, though his grief was still written on his weathered face. He had been right there at Ringoshi's side when their research lab was overrun by the infected; he could have stopped Ringoshi from going back and trying to save their data, but he was too spineless and cowardly.

"Masuda-san.." Kano spoke up, his voice the same neutral, gravelly baritone as always, though his tone had a very serious, sincere sound to it. "..You've done a lot for both myself and Ringoshi. You've helped a lot of people in your life, and you can't be blamed for failing to save one. I believe that once we make it to where we are headed, you'll be able to save people all over again.. So don't lose hope."

Before Masuda could say anything in return, the conversation was interrupted and cut off completely by the masked man up ahead. "Hey- If the two of you would do less talking and more walking, we might actually make it to Port City before dusk!"

From there, all was silent, save for the constant moaning and wailing of the wind, and the three sets of footsteps in the thick blanket of snow.

:: ::

Konoha had been rather thoroughly wrecked, that could be said with the fairest amount of certainty. The damage began at one stray corner of the city, the surrounding buildings flattened, while the fortifying walls had great, massive chunks beaten out of them. The rest of the wall was spanned with cracks, crumbling nearest the epicenter of this disaster.

Trees were strewn here and there, while a great circular perimeter had been created of various structures, all bent backward to their breaking point, telling of the powerful blast of energy that erupted upon the demon-fox's escape. From the overall crater where the fox had obviously appeared (Ironically enough, it was the area that used to be the Uchiha district.), a clear trail could be traced from above, marking the Kyuubi's path of destruction.

He had taken a straight path, into the very center of Konoha, and there he had apparently stopped to amuse himself with nothing more than his overall ability to tear down the city. Here, the buildings lay in tattered pieces, like paper or houses of cards that had just been smashed. Was it really so amusing that no shinobi came out to stop you, fox?

Yet, as the fox was no longer present, and he hadn't left any sign that he had trailed off into the distance, (The forests around the city were perfectly untouched.) it could only be assumed that he was captured, somehow.

(All according to plan, _right?_)

Aloft upon the immense altitude of a remaining chunk of fortifying wall sat one lone observer; he rested here, the faded iron-black of his cloak fluttering softly in the thin air, along with the tattered scarlet of the scarf that covered the lower half of his already-masked countenance.

He allowed himself to expend these precious moments of daylight with what seemed a great deal like laziness, when in fact, he had utterly exhausted himself, delving into his last wells of reserved energy in order to travel nonstop throughout an entire day and night, just to get here. Not only was he fraught with fatigue, but he was laden with disappointment to find that, despite his efforts to rush, he had arrived too late.

Expanding his chest in a deep, mournful sigh, he climbed slowly back to his feet as he exhaled the cold, thin air that felt arctic in his lungs. Even this subtle, muffled noise sounded discontent beneath his mask.

His first thought upon arrival had been, '..You're dead, aren't you?', though now, as he took back to his feet, having renewed the clarity of his inner focus, his thoughts were, 'I know you're still alive out there. I feel it.'

For now, he maintained some shred of faith, trusting that the one in which he searched for would survive. However, he didn't take this knowledge for granted and was perfectly aware that even the strongest survivors would wear thin of spirit; this was now the purpose that pushed the masked man onward in his search, his sense of urgency returning, anew.

His boundless drive, alone, however, was not enough to keep him going; he had abused the inhuman endowments of strength and endurance that he possessed, letting himself fall to the very brink of ruin. He could not rest, or at least, he refused to do so, and that fact would not change- But, he could no longer go on without feeding himself, so he scoured what remained of Konoha with his eyes, trying to recall any place he thought likely to still be a safe-vault of sustenance.

The young masked man descended from the height of his perch with a simple jump, free-falling toward the frosted surface of what was once Konoha, taking in the irony of how it was steadily being erased from the world, buckling beneath a blanket of snow. Somewhere near the end of his topple, he brought forth the katana from his back, and dug it shallowly into the old, clay surface of the great wall, using this to stabilize himself as he let his feet glide along the upright structure, clinging like a loose magnet with the controlled pull of his chakra. This slowed his fall, easing the strain of making a landing to something endurable, and once he grew close to the ground, he kicked off from the wall, flipping gracefully into a snow-cushioned landing.

Not constraining himself with pickiness, the young shinobi only wandered the streets among the remaining buildings long enough to locate something dark, and foreboding in appearance, something that seemed untouched by looters. His first and best option came in the form of a small bakery with only two frontal windows, which were both shattered, but still concealed from light with café-curtains.

A heavy boot was placed in the windowsill with an audible crunch of what glass remained; The crunching noise, along with the tinkling of falling shards reverberated in the empty streets of ghostly, abandoned Konoha, whispering back and forth like haunting voices. This was of no concern as the masked man pushed back the checkered curtains to find the small shop, inwardly, a mess, but otherwise empty of infected.

Jumping through the large, open area of the window, the shinobi's shoes came carefully to the wooden floor of the café, still crunching in glass and snow that had blown past the curtains in heavy wind. The curtains were yanked back, effectively tearing down the rod from above the window, and it crashed loudly in the small shop, yet the noise ended quickly, dying back down into ever-present, ever chilling silence.

Waiting for a reaction to the commotion, the masked man did not move- He stood as still as the old, patient forests, listening carefully. He breathed lightly as he focused on this task, thinking that he wouldn't come to find any disturbance, yet eventually a soft shuffle met his ears, along with something being knocked around in the back of the shop, creating a metallic clank, probably from a baking pan that was tipped from some high place.

"It seems I'm not alone, after all.." The male shinobi spoke softly to himself, his own smooth voice practically alien to his ears as he wandered around alone, and otherwise silent. But beyond his declaration of having company inside the abandoned café, he continued forward, taking careful steps.

All of the tables, save for maybe one, had been toppled over, along with the chairs. The glass display case was untouched, yet the cakes and cookies, and dumplings inside had all molded into appalling masses of black and white fur, which smelled absolutely vile. The roaming shinobi was certain that, were it warmer, this place would have been noisily buzzing with swarms of flies.

Everything upon the purchase counter had been wrecked, along with everything behind the counter, and the masked man trailed his gaze down to the floor to notice faint trails of blood leading toward the door that opened to the back of the shop.

Undaunted, the masked shinobi pressed his hand to the door marked 'employees only', opening it wide and venturing back into the lightless confines of the shop. He was certain that he heard the metal object from before being bumped once again, the dull echo of it skidding across the floor surely not a figment of his imagination.

His eyes adjusted to the blackened abyss with an unfair amount of ease, however, and he observed the narrow corridor, which was lined with dull shapes that could be assumed were shelves; these shelves were stocked with boxes and bottles of various things. The supplies on the shelves did seem to be slightly rattled and out of order, yet it didn't seem as though things had been stolen, curiously enough; this could only mean one thing.

"There must _someone_ guarding this cozy nest.." In all truth, the masked man spoke 'someone' with respect for the fact that the diseased were technically still living human beings; Still, it was more of a 'something' that he expected to be living here. This was stated with utter certainty.

Finally, the metal baking pan that had been shifting around all this time came falling to the floor with a clattering bang. The object in question, as it struck the floor, landed near the masked man's feet, and he looked down as it rolled across the floor, realizing immediately that it had fallen from the shelves above him.

His head was whipped upward, his masked face turning toward the ceiling so that his eyes were allowed to focus on the dark crevices that were the tops of the shelves; it was there that he finally located the occupants of this 'nest', three infected adults crouched atop, waiting to pounce him.

His voice had fully roused them from their daylight slumber, and even through the dark, he could see the pale, snarling masks of their skin, so sickly translucent that the dark webbing of their veins showed from beneath. Their tongues hung from gaping jaws, their lips drawn back from their upper teeth, which had grown jagged and sharp, and they salivated with maddened hunger at the prey that had so foolishly come, as if for the sole purpose of being eaten alive. Luminous eyes, a pale blueish-white, gazed from deep, dark, sunken-in sockets, just before they shrieked at the masked male below them, diving down toward him in blood-thirsty fervor.

The young shinobi wasted no time in moving out of their path, jumping from the spot in which he stood, and running back toward the door that led into the supply fridge. With noisy thuds, and shrill screams, along with a few toppling items from the shelf, the trio of infected landed on the floor of the hallway, squealing in displeasure that their prey had not been trapped beneath them, though they wasted no time in chasing after the masked ninja.

The roughened feet and clawed hands of these mindless creatures scraped the floor as they bounded toward their prey, separated from him by only a slight gap. He knew, if he had been anybody else at this very moment, he would be inwardly questioning what internal organ would he see torn from the hull of his body first, especially as he came to the dead end of the hall, and turned to face the diseased opposition that was coming for him. However, he didn't waste time with such silly questions, raising his eyes to the three-strong hoard just moments before they buried their teeth in him.

Two vibrant, crimson lights cut through the darkness from beneath the man's mask, the fiery glow bringing the three infected to a scraping halt immediately before him. They stood, vacantly staring him down, still snarling as their saliva dribbled down their chins, and hissing softly as if in confusion, but they did not move even one step closer.

"Being eaten would be most inconvenient..", the masked man spoke, addressing the infected as if they could truly understand his words. They, of course, said nothing in return.

In a whirl, the masked man faced the door to the supply fridge, and firmly grasped the handle in a gloved hand, opening the heavy, metallic door in order to see what remained inside. A cold, foggy mist drifted from within, greeting his nose with the scent of sweets as he removed his mask, and breathed deeply the frigid air.

Stepping inside, he was thrilled to see that everything seemed intact, and had yet to go bad, the climate well-maintained in the insulated freezer, along with the fact that everything inside was carefully sealed.

He sauntered about, scrutinizing the selection; there were stacks of sealed, packaged fruits, and fillings; unopened cans of cream, alongside tubs of green tea, red bean, and ginger ice cream; containers of spreads and preserves; pre-packaged mousse cakes, pies, and pastries; dumplings filled with everything one could possibly desire; It was a frozen heaven, truly.

"Konoha's regional sweets.. Could I ask for anything more?" The now-unmasked shinobi smiled to himself, his lips faintly upturning in satisfaction, and he drew a pack from beneath his cloak, choosing to place some supplies within, for later. (These sorts of things, as potentially perishable, and hard to acquire as they were, were delicacies.) As he did so, he fought with himself about what he should eat first, his sweet-tooth much too indecisive to actually -pick- _one_ item. (Not to mention, he was utterly famished.)

But then he noticed something that he hadn't before- The bakery produced mainly sweets and confections, but with a few exceptions; savory dumplings and meat pies. One odd package, enclosed by other containers of fruit-fillings, sat lonesomely, the only one of its kind. Enclosed, as could be observed through the clear plastic, were what appeared to be raw beeftips, stewing in a messy gravy of thick, crimson blood.

The man stared in the direction of this one package as he filled his bag with treats. Then, when his bag was full, he placed the strap back over his shoulder, allowing the heavy weight of the luggage to rest upon his hip. But even though he took with him a supply of sweets, as he stared at the one lone package of raw meat, he realized something..

He wasn't so hungry for sweets anymore.

:: ::

..tbc..

::

*Saba; Saba is the Japanese term for Mackeral, which is a type of fish.

*Akamaru; As a sidenote, in case some of you notice that I've depicted Akamaru as his large, fully-grown self, while Sasuke, Sakura, and everybody else from their class, including Kiba, are all still twelve- It occured to me that Kiba got Akamaru when he was what? Seven? Eight? By the time Kiba reached the age of twelve, that dog would have been grown, not still just a puppy. I'm assuming that this is just one of those plot things Kishomoto thought too miniascule to actively consider, or else, he doesn't know shit about dogs, lol.

;

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